CALGARY — The union representing engineers, conductors and yard workers has “chosen to grossly misrepresent the facts” and “distorted the truth,” Canadian Pacific Kansas City said late Monday in a response to statements by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference regarding contract negotiations, saying the railroad has “offered two options for renewed contracts that provide benefits for all.”
On Friday, CPKC and Canadian National separately requested that the Canadian government provide mediators for contract negotiations with the TCRC; CN’s current contract with the running trains expired on Dec. 31, 2023, while CPKC contracts with TCRC’s Train & Engine division and its Traffic Controller division expired on that date [see “CN, CPKC seek involvement of Canadian government …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 16, 2024].
The union responded on Monday with a statement saying both railroads are willing to create a work stoppage in order to eliminate crew rest provisions, which Teamsters Canada National President François Laporte called “a non-starter” [see “Teamsters Canada Rail Conference claims …,” News Wire, Feb. 19, 2024].
CPKC said in its statement that it had requested a Federal Conciliation Officer because five months of bargaining had produced no progress, and that recent history with the Train & Engine division “shows that resolution is unlikely without conciliation, in that nine of the 10 rounds of collective bargaining negotiations since 1993 have required conciliation.”
The railroad said the first option it has offered includes “significant pay increases and improved work-life balance with scheduled, predictable days off through a dramatically simplified system. The offer presents a progressive, modern time-based pay model that delivers improved benefits for employees. With the exception of our proposal amending the held-away-from-home provision for train crews, the second option offers competitive wage increases that are consistent with recent settlements and maintains the status quo for work rules within the new Transport Canada regulatory framework for rest.”
CPKC says “neither of these proposals, or anything CPKC has put forward, creates any risk to safety or employee well-being. To say otherwise is patently false. If redundant and archaic work rules are dissolved, employees would benefit from a modern agreement that enables higher wages and predictable, scheduled time off, while fully complying with new regulatory requirements for reest. Unfortunatly the TCRC bargaining team has not put forward any comprehensive offers of their own.”
