20 April 2007
As CN Returns to Normal, CP Rail Girds for Strike
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. said it hopes the resumption of
talks Wednesday night with its maintenance workers will avert a strike next week.
Even as legislation brought locked-out Canadian National Railway Co. workers back on the job yesterday, CP's 3,000
maintenance workers are poised to strike next week.
The workers - who, among other tasks, inspect, maintain and build tracks - could strike as early as Monday, after a
government-mandated cooling-off period ends. But the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, which represents them,
is unlikely to give the 72-hour notice today that is requisite for a Monday strike.
"I'm not intending to give strike notice (today)," said William Brehl, president of the Teamsters's Maintenance of Way
Employees Division.
"But if we go on strike - and CP knows this - the trains will stop."
The ongoing labour strife at CN, which is to be settled by a government-appointed arbitrator, is looming over the CP talks.
Brehl said he believes CP is privately hoping the government will legislate a deal for the maintenance workers.
"The company would like the government to make a decision on this contract," he said. "Our position is that we want to
negotiate. We don't want to be legislated back."
Mark Seland, spokesman for Calgary-based CP, denied that the company is looking for government involvement.
"This is categorically false," he said. "Our best solution is a negotiated settlement."
Unlike the CN conflict that focused on working conditions, the CP dispute is about money.
The workers, who earn about $40,000 a year on average, want a four percent raise per year over four years.
CP is offering three percent a year for three of the four years and demands concessions for a hike of four percent in the second year.
The Teamsters' demands would cost CP 60 percent more than what the company spent to settle with its other unionized workers, Seland
said.
"The major stumbling block is that rather large gap," he said.
Calgary-based CP Rail is already taking precautions for a possible strike, including training managers to perform the
workers' day-to-day tasks.
CP shares dropped 27 cents yesterday to close at $69.14 in Toronto trading. The stock gained just over nine percent in the last
year.
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