CP Rail train operators walk off the job
Conductors, engineers walk off the job; signal workers reach tentative agreement
MONTREAL — Canadian Pacific Railway’s more than 3,000 train operators walked off the job Tuesday night, while a second group of workers reached a tentative contract settlement with the rail company.
The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference said its workers walked out at 7 p.m. PDT as negotiations continued with the company with the assistance of federal mediators.
That announcement came just minutes after CP Rail announced a tentative deal had been reached with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers for 360 signalling workers who had also been poised to walk off the job.
The Teamsters said the strike by its members has begun despite “best efforts to reach a negotiated settlement,” adding it is “willing to remain at the bargaining table during the strike.”
It said commuter train services in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver are operated by Bombardier, not Canadian Pacific, and that Teamster members who operate trains in those cities are Bombardier employees and will not go on strike.
As a result, said the Teamsters, commuter train services would not be affected by the strike.
Via, however, had already cancelled passenger rail service starting Tuesday morning in Ontario between Sudbury and White River.
CP Rail has said it will use qualified management staff to handle signalling and switching tasks so trains can continue to operate.
However, the strike could force the railroad to shut down its freight service at a particularly bad time for grain farmers.
Shippers had said they expected talks would fail, resulting in the third CP Rail strike since 2012.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the federal government would not be rushed into introducing back-to-work legislation, preferring instead to employ various levers to motivate both sides to reach a settlement.
Trudeau said his government would not do as the Conservatives did and favour employers.
“Quite frankly, we have companies that have gotten used to the fact that in certain industries, the government in the past was very quick to legislate against unions,” Trudeau said during a conference in Toronto. “We are not going to do that.” Even before the strike began, the livelihoods of Canadian grain farmers were threatened because shipping was severely disrupted over the winter due to extreme cold.
The train operators voted 94 per cent in favour of strike action to back their contract demands in early April. They voted 98 per cent to reject CP’s final offer last Friday.
Both unions gave the railway notice over the weekend that they planned to walk off the job to support contract demands.