5 February 2011

CP Rail Canadian Auto Workers
Avoid Strike

Calgary Alberta - Canadian Pacific Railway avoided strike action by reaching a tentative deal with the Canadian Auto Workers Union after months of negotiations.
 
Both sides reached a deal just before midnight Friday that is expected to be ratified by the union in about three weeks.
 
They had been negotiating for several months leading up to Friday's agreement.
 
The latest round of bargaining started on 27 Jan 2011 and carried through until a deal was reached with the aid of a conciliator, Canadian Pacific spokesman Mark Seland said Saturday.
 
A deadline to reach a deal with 2,100 mechanical service staff was set to expire on Tuesday, but Seland said the company had a contingency plan in place to avoid any disruption in rail service had strike action taken place.
 
Workers could have issued a 72-hour strike notice if the deal was not reached by midnight.
 
Leading up to the agreement, the company was repositioning managers to adapt to a potential strike and had trained 1,200 managers in a "strategic deployment strategy."
 
Last week, the union also reached a last-minute tentative deal with Canadian National Railway.
 
More than 2,000 workers in that company were set to strike on 25 Jan 2011, just one day after the tentative deal was reached.