MONTREAL — Canadian National Railway is preparing to move some of its dispatchers from its Montreal rail traffic control center to Edmonton, Alberta.
The railroad tells the Montreal Gazette that fewer than 15 people will be reassigned to Edmonton, but officials from the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference say some members have been told that the Montreal dispatch center could be closed in the coming months.
Teamsters officials note that some of the dispatchers that have been reassigned to Edmonton were moved from Toronto to Montreal earlier this year.
“CN is moving families across the country like goods on a train. Some of these families had just found schools and daycares for their children in Montreal. You can’t play with people’s lives like that,” says Teamsters Canada President François Laporte.
About 100 dispatchers work in Montreal. The Teamsters represent 200 dispatchers across Canada. CN has rail traffic control centers in Edmonton, Montreal, and Toronto.
Trains News Wire is seeking additional information from CN.
In a statement to the newspaper, a CN spokesman says the reassignment of 15 dispatchers is being done for “efficiency.” The impacted rail traffic controllers primarily dispatch CN’s routes in northern Ontario.
Teamsters Canada Rail Conference President Lyndon Isaak says he worries that the move will mean some experienced dispatchers will quit.
“Uprooting families, some for the second time this year, likely means many RTCs will be unwilling to make the move. Leaving their communities, relatives, language and culture behind may not be an option for many of them,” Isaak says. “CN will end up losing experienced staff and their knowledge of the rail network, which could lead to dangerous situations for railroaders, track maintenance crews and the general public.”
The reassignments appear to be part of a wider operational reorganization at CN that began earlier this month. On Dec. 3, Chief Operating Officer Rob Reilly announced that the railroad was consolidating its network operations from three regions to two, an eastern region and a western region. The eastern region will include operations in the United States, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. The western region include everything from the Northern Ontario Division to the West Coast
My guess is that not enough people quit when the move from Toronto to Montreal was made. I’m pretty sure CN had plans to do this months ago, probably before the Montreal move. These big corporations don’t just stop on dime and pivot in another direction.
just another excuse to force employees to quit and consolidate territories.
moving around can be hard, but seems to happen a lot today. I did not take a job with Frisco because they were moving most of office staff to Springfield, MO and I did not want to move. Only reason I never worked for them, although I would have ended up working for BN if I didn’t get bumped by someone with more seniority. Did not think of the language problem but it would be true and cause problems.
Not that simple. You won’t find many folks speaking fluent French in Edmonton, and Quebec train crews conduct most of their radio business in French. Making such a move is just begging for labor and operational trouble, beside potential issues with dispatchers being unfamiliar with their territory and unable to grasp the volumes of passenger and commuter trains on this part of the CN system.
I do not believe that the CN is forcing anyone to move. Companies move folks all over the world. You have a choice, go, or stay. Don’t want to go to Edmonton, then don’t go. Find a different/better job and make your own way. So tired of the incessant complaining. Many moons ago my firm opened a facility in Frankfurt. I was the team leader and made it very clear, that the relocation was optional. However, the team had no viable work in the US at the time. It was a 36 to 42 month job. What a surprise – everyone moved.
Not knowing the’ culture’ on CN’s Canadian-side,,,and having trucked some, in Canada: {in Quebec, Ontario’ and some in Saskatchewan….} My guess, is that for a ‘Montrealer’ ; Edmonton would be equivalent to an exile in Siberia?
If they originally were in Toronto and are been relocated to Edmonton they are not leaving their culture or language behind last I checked Toronto and Edmonton we English speaking communities for the most part
Sounds more like they don’t want to deal with the cold winters and become part of the bad west
I assume that the CN train dispatchers at Homewood, IL (X-IC) would stay at Homewood as per 49 CFR, Part 241.
Ed Burns
Retired Clerk from Northtown.
What I remember about Edmonton.
Imperial Oil (Esso Canada) has a big refinery there. It has a huge mall with an indoor water park.
The city Police stand at the side of the road with photo radar. They even put signs up telling people “Photo Radar Ahead”. Then people dutifully pull over to converse with the officers in the hope they are not issued a citation. I was told if you stop and talk to the officers usually they rescind the violation.
Also it is cold and windy there in winter. My dispatcher authorized a hotel room for the weekend on account of the cold. And that was on top of the fact we had to leave the truck and refrigeration unit running in the cold.
The people are friendly.