CALGARY, Alberta — A Canadian arbitrator has delivered his decision setting terms of new collective bargaining agreements between Canadian Pacific Kansas City and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference’s train and engine and rail traffic controller divisions.
The contract, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2024 and running through Dec. 31, 2027, includes annual wage increases of 3%. There is no ratification process for the new agreement.
The T&E Division represents approximately 3,200 engineers, conductors, and other train and yard employees. The Traffic Controller Division represents approximately 80 workers.
Arbitration William Kaplan, in his decision — which includes the full terms of the new agreement — compared the CPKC case to an earlier arbitration decision between Canadian National Railway and the TCRC. That decision, also by Kaplan, awarded 3% annual raises to CN employees [see “Arbitration awards 3% raises …,” Trains News Wire, April 7, 2025]; he writes in the latest decision that there is “no reason to depart from this firmly established normative, pervasive, uncontradicted pattern.” As in the CN decision, he also left other matters, such as work rules, to be settled by collective bargaining.
CPKC said in a press release that the new agreements “bring labor stability to CPKC operations in Canada, allowing efficient and dependable rail service to continue uninterrupted for years to come.” TCRC said in a message to members that it would meet with CPKC in the coming weeks “to discuss implementation of the award.” It also expressed its ongoing unhappiness with the arbitration process, saying, “The railway’s collusion and government overreach made [a bargained settlement] impossible and forced us into a dictated Collective Agreement.”
The dispute between CPKC and the union was sent to binding arbitration by Canada’s then-Labor Minister, Steven MacKinnon, last August after a brief strike [see “Canada’s labor minister orders arbitration …,” News Wire, Aug. 22, 2024]. The union challenged that decision but it was affirmed by the Canada Industrial Relations Board [see “Canadian agency upholds …,” News Wire, Aug. 24, 2024].
