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The union that represents greater than 9 thousand CN and CPKC railway employees is organizing a vote to approve strike motion, elevating the prospects of a rail work stoppage as early as late Might if a number of offers aren’t reached earlier than then.
Members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Convention (TCRC) will start voting electronically on April 8 on whether or not to offer their representatives the choice of shifting forward with a strike.
The negotiations and strike vote revolve round three collective bargaining contracts that expired on Dec. 31, 2023, affecting the next railway employees:
- Almost 6,000 conductors, locomotive engineers, and yard employees at CN,
- Almost 3,200 conductors, locomotive engineers, and yard employees at CPKC, and
- Round 80 or 90 rail site visitors controllers at CPKC.
Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan appointed federal mediators for every of the three agreements on March 1, upon the request of each CN and CPKC, which set in a movement a 60 day timeline to resolve the labour disputes by conciliation.
Representatives from the railways and union met with mediators as lately as March 26.
The 60 day interval may very well be prolonged if each side request and comply with an extension, but when a deal isn’t reached, there’s a compulsory 21 day “cooling off” interval earlier than a strike or lockout can happen, which implies Might 22 is the primary day the employees may go on strike or get locked out by their employer.
At the least 4 consecutive rounds of labour talks between CPKC (then CP Rail) and the TCRC have resulted in work stoppages, in 2012, 2015, 2018 and 2022. TCRC members at CN spent eight days on strike in 2019 earlier than agreeing to a three-year deal that expired in mid-2022. The collective settlement with CN that expired on Dec. 31 was solely ratified final Might.
Below Canada’s labour regulation, the expired agreements stay in place till new offers are reached.
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