This story originally appeared on Trains.com.
Members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) have authorized strikes against Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City, the union announced Wednesday.
Some 93.3% of train and engine crews at CN returned ballots, with 97.6% voting in favor of a strike. At CPKC, 91.7% of train and engine crews returned ballots, with 99% authorizing a strike, while among members of the CPKC Rail Traffic Controllers unit, 96.6% returned ballots, with 95.3% in favor of a strike.
A strike could come as early as May 22, following the end of a mandatory 21-day federal mediation period that began Wednesday.
The two railroads, meanwhile, indicated that they and the union remain far apart.
CN said in a press release that the railroad and union held negotiations Monday and Tuesday supported by federal conciliators, and that the union “has made it clear” it would not move an agreement based on an hourly pay rate, rather than the traditional mileage-based system, and scheduling that would provide for consecutive days off with provisions for no days off. CN has said this would provide an average pay raise for engineers of 15.5%, while the TCRC has said the proposal would mean pay cuts for half its members and damage quality-of-life provisions. [See “Teamsters Canada calls for strike authorization vote …,” Trains News Wire, April 1, 2024.]
The railroad said the union has “made very few concessions” in five months of discussions and “has been unclear on what it is seeking for employees other than to continue focusing on a list of approximately 200 local and regional demands unrelated to a modern consolidated agreement benefiting employees and customers alike.”
CPKC said it has made two offers to the TCRC. “Both options provide significant benefits for our employees and fully comply with new Canadian regulatory requirements for rest,” the railroad said in its statement. “They do not in any way compromise safety. To say or suggest otherwise is false. The first offer provides significant pay increases made possible by a simplified time-based method of pay and improved work-life balance through schedule predictability and set days off. The second offer proposes competitive wage increases and maintains the status quo for the balance of the collective agreement, with one exception: addressing a single pay item at the away from home terminal to account for the new regulated rest regime in Canada.”
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