Canadian National Railway’s (CN) conductors, yardmen and traffic co-ordinators have voted in favour of a deal that keeps them off the picket line until at least July 2013.
The agreement, tentatively reached early last month pending the outcome of this ratification vote, followed a round of what the conductors’ union, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), described at the time as “last-chance meetings” with a federal mediator.
Contract discussions by that time had stalled to the point where the 2,700-odd workers or Montreal-based CN could have launched a walkout or lockout, respectively, with 72 hours’ notice.
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The Grain Growers of Canada, fearing another potential labour disruption on CN track, wrote at that time to federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt urging back-to-work legislation if need be.
Neither TCRC nor CN said Tuesday by what margin the unionized workers had voted to approve the deal.
The agreement, retroactive to July, calls for wage hikes of 2.4, 2.6 and three per cent in each of the next three years respectively.
The deal also raises the workers’ short-term disability benefits, maximum lifetime health care benefits and annual dental care benefits.
Also, it allows a worker (or his or her representative) to attend any company disciplinary investigation that has direct bearing on his or her responsibilities.
The new agreement follows rounds of on-and-off talks since the expiry of the workers’ previous collective agreement in July.
The company and union had met in August with federal conciliator Michael Bendel, who in a Sept. 5 report to Raitt described the relationship between the railway and the Teamsters as “dysfunctional.”
CN’s engineers, represented separately by the TCRC, had gone on strike Nov. 28 last year but reached an agreement with the railway Dec. 2.
The engineers’ agreement came after Rona Ambrose, the labour minister at that time, announced plans Nov. 30 to introduce back-to-work legislation.
