Voting dates on CP
final offer now known
Laval,
QC, May 1, 2018 – The Canada Industrial Relations Board will conduct the
vote on Canadian Pacific’s (CP) final offer from May 18 to May 25, union
officials today learned. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) is
urging their members to reject the company’s offer.
Judgment Day at Canadian Pacific
Out of good faith, the union will attempt to resume negotiations
after CP’s final offer is rejected and before any possible strike
action. Should talks fail or CP not wish to bargain, workers will
exercise their right to strike after 72 hours’ advance notice.
“May 25 is Judgment Day at Canadian Pacific,” said the president of the
TCRC, Doug Finnson. “CP has done everything it can to make a strike
inevitable, but they can still avoid a work stoppage by bargaining in
good faith.”
“Teamsters are ready negotiate with CP but we cannot
bargain alone,” he added. “CP has to be ready to settle outstanding
issues and to provide workers with a good and fair collective
agreement.”
On April 20, the Minister of Labour, on the advice of
federal mediators, agreed to CP’s request to order a vote on a final
offer to Teamster members. This development postponed a strike that was
set to begin on April 21 at 0:01 a.m. ET.
Workers will be mailed
voting information over the coming days and will be able to cast their
ballots via telephone and Internet. Results of the vote are expected to
be known sometime on May 25.
Final offer falls short
CP’s final offer does not address workers’ issues and concerns. It
also underestimates workers’ anger with the company’s abusive labour
relations policy and management practices.
“Fatigue is a critical
issue with CP. You can’t safely work in the rail industry if you’ve been
awake for too long,” explained Doug Finnson. “Another irritant is the
fact that CP wants to pay workers less than at Canadian National, its
biggest competitor.”
While just over 3000 workers are covered by
the collective agreement, there are over 8000 outstanding grievances
filed against CP. This is after the union won thousands of cases in
2017. Moreover, cases of dismissed workers rose by 500% at the Canadian
Railway Office of Arbitration since CP adopted a discipline-based labour
relations strategy.
“CP designed their final offer to entice
workers to abandon their grievances, some of which are valued in the
tens of thousands of dollars,” concluded the union leader. “CP is
offering a fraction of what we think the company owes, and our members
see through that nonsense.”
Over 3000 conductors and locomotive
engineers at CP voted 94.2% to authorize strike action on April 6.
Commuter train services would not be affected in the event of a strike
by Teamster members.
Teamsters represent close to 125,000 workers
in Canada in all industries, including over 10,000 in the rail sector.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, with which Teamsters Canada
is affiliated, has 1.4 million members in North America.
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Media requests:
Christopher Monette
Director of Public
Affairs, Teamsters Canada
Cell: 514-226-6002
cmonette@teamsters.ca
