CN
currently requires TCRC members to operate trains alone from
outside of the locomotive, hanging on to moving trains with one
hand while operating a remotely controlled locomotive with the
other. Railroaders are expected to do this in rain and in
freezing temperatures, sometimes for distances of up to about 17
miles.
The union’s demands to cease these dangerous
practices have fallen on deaf ears and the company has refused
to come to a satisfactory agreement at the negotiations table to
adjust their operating practices in the interest of safety.
The company also wants to make it more difficult to take
time off and make employees work longer hours, in an attempt to
get more work done with fewer people and to reduce staffing
levels.
“Fatigue has been recognized by the
Transportation Safety Board as a major safety problem in this
industry. Too many railroaders are operating trains when they
should be resting,” explained the president of the TCRC, Lyndon
Isaak. “For the safety of all Canadians, we cannot allow CN to
make it even harder for our members to get the rest they need.”
Moreover, CN is demanding that the union accept a lifetime
cap on prescription drug coverage which would be tantamount to
denying workers – and their families – proper treatment for some
forms of cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and other
diseases.
Wages are not a major sticking point in these
negotiations.
Rather than reaching an agreement at the bargaining table, CN is
intent on submitting these issues and more to binding
arbitration. By resolving its differences with the union through
arbitration, the company hopes to achieve gains that could not
have otherwise been made by negotiating in good faith.
“CN is telling our members that they are facing tough times, but
the reality is that they made over $3.8 billion in the third
quarter of 2019. They should be ashamed to be pleading poverty,”
added Lyndon Isaak. “This obsession with profits and shareholder
return, at the expense of just about everything else, is exactly
what is wrong with our economy.”
The union and the
company have been in negotiations for seven months and have been
working with federal mediators for the past five. In September,
workers voted 99.2% in favour of strike action. The previous
collective agreement expired on July 23, 2019.
A work
stoppage would bring CN’s operations to a halt but would not
affect public transportation.
Talks with the company are
ongoing in Montréal.
Teamsters represent 125,000 workers across Canada, including
over 16,000 workers in the rail industry. 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
