The Canadian National Railway announced on Feb. 25 that it had reached a tentative settlement with the United Transportation Union-Canada, which represents 2,800 conductors and yard-service employees who have been on strike since Feb. 10.
The announcement prompted the Canadian government to delay back-to-work legislation that would have forced an end to the strike and allowed a federal arbitrator to impose a contract. At issue were wage increases for each year of a three-year contract with the railroad, as well as policies regarding lunch breaks and disciplinary actions.
The one-year deal reached between CN and UTU, retroactive to Jan. 1, provides a three percent wage increase and a $1,000 signing bonus. Following the settlement announcement, UTU urged its members to return to work although technically the union will remain on strike until UTU ratifies the terms of the settlement with a mail-in vote on March 26.
Striking workers were gradually returning to work as the week advanced, but fertilizer producers continued to see disruptions to service and delays in shipments. There were reports early in the week that some UTU members disapproved of the settlement and were balking at returning to work. Local reports on Feb. 27 said most strikers had returned to work in British Columbia, Quebec and the Maritime provinces, but many workers remained offline in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and parts of Alberta.
“We and other fertilizer producers, particularly potash production and sales, are still experiencing significant delays,” said Richard Downey with Agrium. Downey said Canpotex potash shipments out of the port of Vancouver have experienced departure delays, as have phosphate rock shipments from Agrium’s Ontario mine location to processing facilities in Alberta, particularly in the last week. “A higher proportion of workers have returned to work in the East than in the West,” Downey told Green Markets on Wednesday. “We’re expecting to see an improvement in the latter half of this week.”
In spite of the delays, the agreement comes as a relief to numerous Canadian industries that had been hard-hit by the strike. Local press reports quoted industry sources last week who said rail traffic in Canada had dropped by 60 percent since the strike began, in spite of assurances by CN that it was using management to fill in for striking workers and that service was continuing.
UTU spokesman Frank Wilner was quoted as saying the government’s threat to intervene was a strong motivator for the two sides to reach a settlement. That threat was still viable as Federal Labor Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn said in a weekend statement that the government “remains prepared to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure the strength and stability of the Canadian economy.”
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.