Three U.S. labor unions are requesting federal mediation in pay and benefits disputes with Canadian Pacific Kansas City, the labor organizations announced today (Feb. 12).
Making the request are the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division, and Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen. They say CPKC workers on the former Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern lines are paid 10% to 12% less than those working on the former Soo Line and Kansas City Southern portions of CPKC; that they are the only union employees at a Class I railroad without coverage under the national plan or an equivalent; and that the railroad is offering a more restrictive sick pay agreement than other Class I railroads.
“CPKC leadership has publicly warned others to be skeptical of merger promises, yet they are breaking their own,” Reece Murtaugh, IAM District 19 president and directing general chair, said in a press release. “Our members are still waiting for the wage parity and benefits they were told were come with this merger.” Said BMWED President Tony Cardwell, “There is no legitimate justification for treating DM&E employees as second-class railroaders on a fully integrated Class I system.”
CPKC’s former DM&E lines are primarily in Iowa and Missouri. The unions say that as part of the CP-KCS merger, executives promised that DM&E wages would be brought up to Soo Line rates.
The request for mediation from the National Mediation Board is made under the Railway Labor Act. The unions said in an joint statement that they are prepared to work under the Labor Act process, “But fairness for DM&E employees is not optional; respect and dignity is long overdue.”
In a statement to Trains, CPKC noted that it has in recent months “reached and seen ratified 17 new collective bargaining agreements (with two other tentative agreements reached and pending ratification) covering hundreds of employees working in 11 states across the CPKC network in the United States. We will continue to pursue agreements through direct engagement with IAM District 19, BRS, and BMWED, with the assistance of mediators from the National Mediation Board. CPKC remains committed to bargaining in good faith with all our union partners.”
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