20 June 2007
CP Rail Returns to Business as Usual Replacing Rails
Golden British Columbia - Earlier this week, two
14-person rail crews began changing out the curve rails between Golden and Field.
The task of replacing the 18,000 feet of rail is one that was put on hold while members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference
Maintenance of Way Employees Division (TCRC-MWED) were on strike from 15 May 2007 through
6 Jun 2007.
Canadian Pacific Railway Spokesperson Mark Seland says the rail being replaced is similar to corners of a road, where wear and tear is
more apparent than on a straightaway.
"The wear depends on what kind of grade the curve is on and what kind of weight it has carried," he explains. "We can
only conduct this type of work in summer months, similar to when road construction can be done. In the mountain areas, we consider the
curvatures on those rails to be heavy (or severe) and we change them out every five to seven years."
The 3,200 employees who have recently returned to work, maintain every square inch of the rails - all 14,000 miles of it - in their
day-to-day work.
Seland says while they were on strike in Canada, CPs special capital projects were put on hold. Now it's back to business.
In the end, if the union collectively ratifies the contract CP and the union have tentatively agreed to, they will be accepting an
offer that was presented to the union in meetings in April. CP and the union met with federal mediators late April, before the strike
commenced.
The union walked from the table, thereby halting discussions, and halting the strike.
"They got exactly the same deal (as was offered in the mediated discussions in April) with only minor exceptions to expense
provisions," Seland explains.
Seland says the settlement is consistent with the pattern established in the agreements with their other unions.
In the end, the union received wage increases of three percent for 2007 - retroactive to 1 Jan 2007 - four percent for
2008, and three percent for 2009.
"We have a pretty good working relationship with most of our unions so this was an unusual situation," Seland explains.
"This was an unnecessary strike because, other than the minor expense changes, the deal was essentially the same as the one they
left the table from in April. Sadly, they left the table and we feel badly for the employees who had to go through this."
Throughout the last 12 years, CP has renewed 99 collective agreements with 15 different unions.
In all of this time, there was only one other short strike four years ago.
Throughout the strike, CP employed 1,300 trained replacement management employees to perform the day-to-day track
maintenance.
"We had daily conference calls with Transport Canada and supplied them with all of our maintenance records and worked with them
do spot inspections," he explains. "So we were as compliant with Canada's Railway Track Safety Rules (during the strike) as
we were prior to the strike."
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