MONTREAL — The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, representing approximately 6,000 Canadian National locomotive engineers, conductors, and yard workers, has ratified its new contract with the railroad, CN announced Friday.
Some 70.7% of those voting were in favor of the contract, the union said.
“I want to graciously thank the members who took the time to educate themselves on this agreement and cast their ballot accordingly,” TRCT National President Paul Boucher said in a statement. “The membership has duly exercised their rights and secured a collective agreement that will benefit themselves for years to come.”
The railroad and union had announced a tentative agreement on April 23. Neither side has publicized terms of the deal.
“We are pleased that TCRC members have ratified the collective agreement reached earlier this year,” CN CEO Tracy Robinson said in a press release. “We thank the TCRC leadership for their engagement throughout this process. We remain committed to working with this important group to ensure continued service for our customers and improved working conditions for our team members.”
This was the best I’ve seen in my 16 years. (Although that’s not hard to beat). The wage increase of 3.25 was a downer(inflation is 6%), the rest looks pretty good. We went from 12 unpaid personal days of to 10 paid. We also went from 0 paid sick(medical leave) days to 10 paid. Plus a few extra things like a footage premium that increased for the first time since we got them in the contract some 30 years ago. With the paid time off the wage increase is actually higher than the 3.25%. I think a lot of the “no” votes came from people who think that this contract is “too good”. A lack of trust in the union and the company gives people cause for a lot of doubt in this. Waiting for the catch.