The general committees of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), representing the conductors, trainmen, yardmen, locomotive engineers and rail traffic controllers employed by Canadian Pacific Railway, announced Thursday they have been authorized by their membership to launch a strike against CP as early as late May.
Canadian Pacific on Friday requested the Federal Minister of Labour appoint a conciliator “to assist in progressing discussions on a new agreement, involving legacy pensions, with the union representing the company’s Canadian train crew employees and rail traffic controllers.”
Members of three more unions have ratified new contracts with U.S. freight railroads, it was announced Tuesday.
Represented by the National Carriers’ Conference Committee, the major U.S. railroads late Thursday reached tentative agreements with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the American Train Dispatchers Association, which together represent about 26,500 employees in collective bargaining. The last remaining union without a settlement, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes (BMWE), agreed with the railroads to extend the “cooling off” period until Feb. 8, 2012, eliminating the immediate threat of a national rail strike, which could have occurred as soon as Dec. 6.
The nation’s freight railroads have reached settlements with 10 of the 13 major rail unions covering more than 60% of 132,000 employees in the current round of bargaining, but a potential strike
BNSF posted a letter on its website Wednesday warning its customers that a strike threat still faces the railroad industry and asking for their help in averting it.
With unions for more than half of the workers bargaining with North American freight railroads reaching agreements, the threat of a walkout affecting freight rail transportation is diminishing. Four more unions last week have reached agreement with the Class I’s, making it 10 unions in all, according to the National Railway Labor Conference.
Greenbrier Cos. says it will reduce its work force by roughly 150, in an effort to rein in costs during the current economic recession.