TORONTO — Canadian National train service employees represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference will get a 3% annual raise under an arbitrator’s contract decision.
Arbitrator William Kaplan released his decision today on the three-year contract, which runs from Jan. 1, 2024 through Dec. 31, 2026.
When CN and the TCRC were unable to reach a negotiated settlement during their contract talks, the Canada Industrial Relations Board sent the matter to binding arbitration in August after a brief lockout [see “Canada’s labor minister order arbitration …,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 22, 2024].
Kaplan urged the railway and union to iron out their differences regarding changes to work rules.
“Both parties proposed detailed changes to work rules. And both parties described the proposals they sought as justified by demonstrated need, and the ones advanced by the other party as breakthroughs that would never be accepted in free collective bargaining,” Kaplan wrote. “This is what led to the bargaining impasse (and inability to bridge the divide in the mediation phase). Between now and the expiry of the collective agreement settled by this award the parties, obviously, need to turn their attention to both employee rest and employee availability; both extremely important issues for the TCRC and CN. Doing so is in their evident shared interest requiring their focused attention. These issues are, in my view, best resolved in free collective bargaining with its associated gives and takes. Experience in this matter indicates that they will not be resolved absent appropriate reciprocity.”
Union leaders told the rank and file that binding arbitration was never their goal when seeking a new contract with CN.
“While this is not the preferred outcome for the TCRC, it must be understood that the award does not contain any of the significant concessions sought by the company,” the union’s six general chairmen wrote in a letter to members.
“Unfortunately, CN’s demands were (and remain) completely unacceptable throughout the entire bargaining process,” the union said. “The Company would not relent on what it considered necessary operational changes, primarily resulting from reforms in government regulation. The TCRC could never agree to these concessionary demands that encroached on the rights of you, the TCRC members at CN.”
CN expressed disappointment, as well.
“Although CN remains disappointed that a negotiated agreement was not reached at the bargaining table, the Company is pleased to be moving forward,” the railway said in a statement. “CN also remains committed to modernizing the collective agreement for the benefit of employees, customers, and the North American economy.”
Canadian Pacific Kansas City’s contract with the TCRC also was sent to arbitration. A decision on that contract has not yet been announced.
