CN, USW Reach New Tentative Collective Agreement

(CN Photograph)

CN on March 1 reported reaching a new tentative three-year collective agreement with United Steelworkers (USW) Local 2004, which represents approximately 2,500 track and bridge workers, who are primarily responsible for the Class I’s track maintenance across Canada.

The deal comes after months of negotiations, kicking off in October 2023, with the current collective agreement having expired Dec. 31, 2023, according to the union.

The new agreement was unanimously endorsed by USW Local 2004’s nine-member bargaining committee, the union reported. Ratification meetings will take place this month via regional in-person and online townhall meetings.

No details will be released publicly until the new agreement is ratified, according to CN. Results of the ratification vote are expected by the end of March or early April, the union said.

“We are proud of this new deal that we were able to reach after many long weeks,” commented USW Local 2004 President Cole Kramer. “Our members do important work in ensuring the continuing viability of our national railways and I am pleased that we were able to reach an agreement that fairly compensates them for their efforts.”

USW is said to represent 225,000 members “in nearly every economic sector across Canada and is the largest private-sector union in North America, with 850,000 members in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean.”

Separately, CN and Canadian Pacific Kansas City on Feb. 16 filed separate Notices of Dispute in their negotiations with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference.