CP Rail train operators go on strike; signal workers reach agreement
Teamsters union says it’s ‘willing to remain at the bargaining table’
MONTREAL Canadian Pacific Rail’s more than 3,000 conductors and engineers walked off the job late 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 10 p.m. EDT as negotiations continued with the company with the assistance of federal mediators.
That announcement came minutes after CP Rail said a tentative deal had been reached with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers for 360 signalling workers who were also poised to walk off the job at 10 p.m.
The Teamsters said the strike by its members began despite “best efforts to reach a negotiated settlement,” adding it is “willing to remain at the bargaining table during the strike.”
It also said commuter train services in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver are operated by Bombardier, not Canadian Pacific, and Teamster members who operate trains in those cities are Bombardier employees and will not go on strike. The Teamsters says as a result, commuter train services will not be affected by the strike.
However, the strike could force the railroad to shut down its freight service at a particularly bad time for grain farmers. Their livelihoods were already threatened because grain shipping was severely disrupted over the past winter due to extreme cold.
The conductors and engineers voted 94 per cent in favour of strike action to back their contract demands in early April and voted 98 per cent to reject CP’s final offer last Friday. Both unions gave the railway notice over the weekend that they plan to walk off the job to support contract demands. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said earlier Tuesday that the Canadian government won’t be rushed into introducing back-to-work legislation like the Conservatives did to 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,” he said during a conference in Toronto. “We are not going to do that.”
Trudeau said the government believes in collective bargaining but will use various levers to motivate both sides to reach a deal.
However, if it is eventually forced to intervene, the Liberal government won’t be giving the advantage to employers, he said.
“I can tell you we will also look at legislation to deal with some of the issues that the unions are talking about, which are not just about money but are about rail safety for employees.”
The strike threat comes at a particularly bad time for grain farmers, whose livelihoods were threatened because grain shipping was severely disrupted over the past winter due to extreme cold.