CN Rail and CPKC workers vote to go on strike later this month if labour deal isn’t reached

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Train operators at both of Canada’s major freight railways have voted to go on strike later in May if a labour deal isn’t reached, handing their union strong negotiating mandates and raising the odds of a work stoppage that would bring high economic costs.

May 22 is the strike or lockout deadline for about 9,300 rail workers, who operate trains and direct traffic at Canadian National Railway Co. CNR-T and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. CP-T. The vote results announced on Wednesday give union leaders the right to call strikes with 72-hour notices.

Paul Boucher, president of Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, said a combined 98 per cent of votes cast were in favour of a strike, with a participation rate of 93 per cent.

The main issues for union bargaining teams are rest periods and the ability of employees to book time off to ensure they are not working while fatigued, Mr. Boucher said at a news conference in Ottawa on Wednesday. He accused the companies of trying to strip employees’ rights to book rest periods to compensate for a labour shortage and retention problems.

“The company’s intentions are to squeeze more out of their employees because they can’t find enough people,” Mr. Boucher said. “Compromising on safety is never the solution to staffing problems. CN and CPKC should instead be looking to improve working conditions and adopt a more humane approach to railroading.”

CPKC said in a press release its proposals do not compromise safety. Both railways say they have offered to move away from a pay-per-mile system to an hourly pay rate that offers more predictable days off.

“A work stoppage will impact all Canadians. It will halt freight traffic on CPKC’s Canadian rail network. It would disrupt essential supply chains throughout North America, and significantly constrain trade between Canada and the U.S. and Mexico,” CPKC said.

In a statement, CN said it is negotiating to protect the supply chain and economy while offering employees a “fair deal.”

“The union has made it clear that it will not agree to move toward a more modern agreement based on an hourly rate and scheduling that would have provided significant wage increases and offered scheduled consecutive days off, provisions for no layoffs, and reduced hours away from home,” CN said.

The workers are represented by three separate collective agreements at the two companies – two at Calgary-based CPKC and one at Montreal-based CN.

It is not common for work stoppage deadlines to occur simultaneously at both freight haulers.

The recent contracts expired at the end of 2023, and negotiators have been in talks since the fall.

Teamsters represents about 130,000 workers in Canada.

Some commuter rail services would also be halted because they are hosted or controlled by workers at the freight railways. These include Montreal’s Exo, Toronto’s Metrolinx and Vancouver’s West Coast Express.

Bob Ballantyne, a senior adviser to the Freight Management Association of Canada, said there are almost no real alternatives to railways for large retailers and commodity companies, which need to move large volumes of goods over long distances

A strike “would cause a lot of trouble for mining companies, forestry companies, the grain industry and chemical producers,” Mr. Ballantyne said by phone.