Canadian press reports on Thursday said the 2,800 rail workers who went on strike in February may not ratify the terms of an agreement reached Feb. 24 with the Canadian National Railway. If the labor accord is not approved by the United Transportation Union-Canada, the outcome could be another walkout and more delays for rail shipments in Canada.
Press reports quoted a CN conductor and former union leader as saying that fully 70 percent of the 2,800 rail workers represented by the UTU still oppose the tentative agreement reached with CN, claiming that CN conductors and yard workers need more than a 20-minute break per nine-hour shift. The workers also reportedly want an end to the railroad’s policy of withholding 60 percent of pension contributions from employees who quit before the age of 55.
The union was originally supposed to vote on the one-year contract agreement on March 26, but decided last week to extend the vote until April 10. While some speculated that the delay had something to do with the lack of support for the proposed contract, union officials said the deadline was pushed back because some workers had not yet received their mail-in ballots.
The prospect of another walkout is a chilling one for the Canadian fertilizer industry, which, along with the rest of Canadian industry, experienced costly shipping delays during the two-week walkout that began on Feb. 10 (GM Feb. 19, p. 1). Another walkout is also raising concerns among some UTU leaders, who fear a continued strike will prompt intervention by the Canadian government and the enforcement of a binding resolution that could be more favorable to the railroad.
The threat of back-to-work legislation back in late February was cited as a key factor in getting the two sides to hammer out the terms of the tentative agreement (GM March 5, p. 1). The one-year deal reached between CN and the UTU, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2007, provides a three percent wage increase and a $1,000 signing bonus. The UTU had originally asked for a 4.5 percent wage increase in the first two years of a three-year contract with CN, with a 4 percent increase in the final year.
One UTU leader was quoted last week as favoring the ratification of the short-term agreement “so the union can come back in seven months and then try to effectively address these issues.” Press reports say a dissident faction within the union, however, is spearheading the effort to reject the contract, and wants the striking workers to join the rival Teamsters union, which already represents CN’s locomotive engineers. Canadian press reports say the Teamsters have asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board to allow UTU members to vote on which union they want to represent them in the dispute.
The 2,800 workers technically remain on strike until the one-year contract is ratified. According to CN, the strike does not affect CN’s other unionized employees in Canada and the U.S. Also excluded from the strike action are UTU members employed on CN’s Northern Quebec Internal Short Line, Algoma Central Railway in northern Ontario, and Mackenzie Northern Railway in northern Alberta.
CN shares fell on the Toronto Stock Exchange last week in the wake of the announcement of the postponed vote, and have reportedly dropped 2.4 percent since the strike began. Adding to CN’s woes was the announcement at mid-month that Great Northern Grain, an inland grain terminal in Nampa, Alberta, had filed a major level-of-service complaint against the railroad. The complaint, which is supported by 10 additional grain industry corporations in Canada, is not a result of the service disruptions caused by the strike, but has to do instead with new CN policies that allegedly prevent smaller grain companies and single-point shippers from securing adequate rail capacity.