2 April 2007
CP Rail Union Believes Strike Can Still be Avoided
The union representing Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd's track
repair workers said on Monday it could go on strike as early as 25 Apr 2007 if no contract agreement is reached.
But the head of the union representing some 3,000 workers in Canada said he believes the sides can reach an agreement on wages and
other issues to avoid a work stoppage at Canada's second largest railway.
"I don't feel we're far apart at all. I feel there is a deal there," said William Brehl, president of the track maintenance
workers unit of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, whose last contract expired at the end of 2006.
Mediator-led talks ended last week without an agreement and no new talks are scheduled.
Brehl said CP has proposed a four-year contract with wage hikes of 3 percent annually, while the union wants a 4 percent
increase each year. The sides are also apart on issues such as seniority.
A Canadian Pacific spokesman said the company would also prefer a negotiated settlement, and it has proposed a contract that is in line
with what its other unionized employees have received in recent agreements.
"As far as we are concerned, this agreement must be consistent and equitable with those other agreements and the several thousand
employees who signed on with those agreements," Mark Seland said.
Brehl said wages for the track crews have lagged those of other CP workers, and the employees want to benefit at a time when CP and
other North American railways are enjoying high profits and growing revenues.
CP said last week when mediated talks ended that it was prepared to use management crews in the event of a strike. The replacement
crews would repair track, but not attempt any capital expansions that might be planned, Seland said.
Brehl said it was not known if CP's train crews and locomotive engineers would honor picket lines in the event of a strike, but he
noted they are both represented by other units of the Teamsters.
This contract involves track crews in Canada and not employees on Canadian Pacific's Soo Line and Delaware & Hudson units in the
United States.
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