Dear Member,
Negotiations between CP Rail and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference took place over the weekend with the assistance of a Labour Canada mediator, and are scheduled to continue until March 16. The main point of contention between the two parties continues to revolve around pension benefits.
Although the union will be in a legal strike position as of 12:01 AM on March 16, this is subject to the provision of 72 hour advance notification. It is our understanding that CP is subject to a similar notification requirement should the company decide to engage in a lockout of employees.
The Federation sent a letter to the Minister of Labour last Friday urging the government to do everything in its power to avoid a work stoppage, and underlining the significant impacts that a labour disruption would have on the bulk and containerized supply chains and the Canadian economy as a whole. We also added our name to a similar message sent to the government by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce on behalf of Canada’s business community as a whole.
Members who wish to use our letter as a template for their own message to the government should contact the undersigned for a Word version of the letter, along with the e-mail addresses of the Ministers to be added in copy.
We will continue to monitor this situation and keep members apprised of developments as warranted.
Sincerely,
Karen Kancens
Vice President