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[CNJRoss]

CP news release, 2/10:

 

CP receives notice of Teamsters Canada Rail Conferences’ intent to strike

 

​​​​​​​​Despite Canadian Pacific's (TSX: CP) (NYSE: CP) best efforts to reach an agreement with Teamsters Canada Rail Conference-Running Trades (TCRC), the union has provided official notice of its intent to strike the company in the event there is not a negotiated settlement. This group represents more than 3,000 active locomotive engineers and conductors at CP.

 

A work stoppage can occur as early as 12:01 a.m. on February 15, 2015.

 

"CP's offers included wage increases, better benefit plans, and the re-instatement of the E​mployee Share Purchase Plan in a long-term agreement," said Peter Edwards, Vice-President, Human Resources and Labour Relations. "We also proposed a model that will improve the scheduling of regular time off and quality of life while enhancing our service and efficiency, but the union has not been interested."

 

CP asked the TCRC to start bargaining on a new contract in December 2013, a full year before it was set to expire. And despite the union's earlier commitment to consider protecting grain shipments and commuter service in Montreal, it appears now that will not be the case.

 

"Canadian Pacific is committed to finding a workable solution with the union and continues to bargain in good faith," Edwards said.

Subject to the union's decision to strike, which could be as early as February 15 at 12:01 a.m., CP will implement its extensive contingency plan by deploying qualified management employees to maintain a reduced freight service on its Canadian network. CP will work with its customers to advise them on how this work stoppage will affect them.

 

There are five long-term collective agreements in place between CP and its Canadian unions, including two with Teamsters unions. Our Rail Traffic Controllers (TCRC-RTC), International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Teamsters Maintenance of Way employees (TCRC-MWED), Police (CPPA) and United Steel Workers (USW) have all ratified long-term deals with acceptance rates between 90 and 97.5 percent.​

[CNJRoss]

CBC news, 2/10:

 

Teamsters give CP Rail 72-hour strike notice

3,330 locomotive engineers and conductors could walk off the job this weekend

 

Teamsters Canada Rail Conference has given Canadian Pacific Railway 72-hour strike notice, meaning 3,300 locomotive engineers, conductors and other train workers could walk off the job midnight on Saturday.

 

Union president Doug Finnson is in Montreal this week negotiating with CP, with the help of federal mediation, but says the union has not made headway on issues such as working conditions.

 

He is particularly concerned about the company not complying with collective agreements that require train crews to stop operating and rest after 10 continuous hours of work.

 

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[CNJRoss]

Toronto Star, 2/12:
 

CP faces weekend strike deadline
Canadian Pacific engineers, other rail workers could be off the job on Sunday.

 

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. is bracing for a possible strike this weekend by the Teamsters union that threatens to damp profit at the country’s second-biggest carrier.

 

A walkout may cut earnings by $0.01 a day, chief operating officer Keith Creel told analysts Wednesday. Canadian Pacific won’t be able to move all of its business during a job action, Creel said. Management employees will run a reduced freight schedule in the event of a walkout.

 

Creel spoke at a conference Wednesday, a day after the railroad disclosed the receipt of a strike notice from the union, which represents more than 3,300 active locomotive engineers and other rail workers. A work stoppage can occur as soon as 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, according to the Calgary-based carrier.

 

The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union said if a deal can’t be reached by the deadline, CP will face job action by workers across Canada.

 

“We want to make it very clear that there is a deadline and we would like to reach an agreement before that time to avoid any job action by our members,” union president Douglas Finnson said in an interview Tuesday.

 

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[CNJRoss]

The Globe and Mail, Toronto, 2/11:
 

Producers on edge over possible CP engineer, conductor strike

 

Companies that depend on the railway to haul their goods to market are bracing for a possible strike at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.

 

Catherine Cobden, executive vice-president of the Forest Products Association of Canada, said the 21 companies she represents are “very concerned” about the possibility of a strike Saturday night by CP’s locomotive engineers and conductors.

 

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A strike could hobble much of the Canadian manufacturing, retail and commodities sectors, which are served by two major rail carriers but often cannot choose between them. CP said its managers have been trained to run locomotives, but not all the freight will get moved if crews walk off the job.

 

Read more here.

[CNJRoss]

CANOE.ca, 2/12:
 

Second CP Rail union gives strike notice

 

TORONTO – A second union representing workers at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd has given notice that it may go on strike just after midnight on Saturday.

 

Unifor, which has been in contract negotiations with CP Rail and represents about 1,800 maintenance and safety workers at the railway, said in a release that it gave notice late on Wednesday.

 

The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, which represents engineers and conductors, gave notice on Tuesday that would strike just after midnight on Saturday unless it reaches a contract deal.

 

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[CNJRoss]

Calgary Herald, 2/12:
 

Farmers brace for possible rail strike

 

With a second union at Canadian Pacific Railway now warning its members could walk off the job by midnight Saturday, Alberta farm groups are raising alarm bells about the impact a rail strike could have on Prairie grain shipments.

 

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“Like any other rail disruption, a day or two is probably not crucial. But if we see a stop in rail transportation for any prolonged length of time, the economic damage will be significant,” Ammeter said.

Read more here.

[CNJRoss]

Montreal Gazette, 2/12:
 

Strike by Teamsters at CP could cause Montreal commuter train nightmare

 

Commuters who use the Agence métropolitain de transport train network could be scrambling as early as Sunday if Teamsters follow through on their threat to strike.

 

The Candiac, Vaudreuil-Hudson and St-Jérôme lines could be crippled without engineers, leaving an estimated 38,000 daily riders without a way to get to work or school and back home.

 

The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union, representing 3,000 locomotive engineers and conductors, are locked in a battle with Canadian Pacific over a contract that expired in Dec. 2014.

 

Those three commuter lines run on CP tracks and are manned by CP employees who are all part of the union.

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[CNJRoss]

 

Reuters, 2/13:

  

Canadian gov't joins CP contract talks, readies back-to-work law

 

OTTAWA/TORONTO - The Canadian government said on Friday it had joined contract talks between Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd and unionized staff ahead of a possible weekend strike, but it also began laying the groundwork to introduce back-to-work legislation.

 

Canadian Labor Minister Kellie Leitch intervened in the negotiations to encourage an agreement and stave off a potential weekend strike, her spokesman said.

 

But the Conservative government also put back-to-work legislation on Parliament's notice paper for Monday, meaning it could pass it into law soon after any strike.

 

 

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[CNJRoss]

Bloomberg Business, 2/13:

 

Threatened Canadian Rail Strike Seen Weakening Heavy Oil Prices

(Bloomberg) -- Canadian crude prices near a six-year low may weaken further should workers at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd carry through with threats to strike this weekend.

 

The company faces a work stoppage as soon as Feb. 15 by Teamsters Canada Rail Conference and Unifor Local 101R, which represent a combined 5,000 workers. Canadian Pacific will deploy managers “to maintain a reduced freight service” on its Canadian lines.

 

Canadian oil companies have increasingly relied on rail cars to deliver crude produced in Alberta to refineries as far away as the U.S. Gulf Coast. Canadian Pacific delivered 110,000 carloads of crude last year, 22 percent more than in 2013, according to company data.

 

Without “enough trains operating, I could see how it will delay the deliveries of crude shipments,” Dinara Millington, a vice president at the Canadian Energy Research Institute, said by phone Friday. “The prices of WCS could decline as a result” of a prolonged delay.

 

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[CNJRoss]

The New York Times, 2/15:

 

Canadian Pacific Railway Engineers Go on Strike as Negotiations Break Down

OTTAWA — About 3,000 locomotive engineers and conductors at the Canadian Pacific Railway walked off the job early Sunday morning in a dispute over wages and benefits.

 

Although the company said it would try to maintain some service by using managers, the strike is likely to disrupt key industries throughout North America, including automakers, oil companies, papermakers, lumber suppliers and agriculture and mining companies.

In a news release issued immediately before the strike, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference suggested that disagreements on rest time and other scheduling issues had led to the breakdown in negotiations.

 

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Unifor, the union for about 1,800 maintenance and safety workers, said early Sunday morning that it had reached an agreement with the company minutes before its members were set to strike.

Read more here.