A labor standstill, with repercussions for the North American supply chain is underway in Canada, starting Sunday morning, as Calgary-based Class I railroad Canada Pacific Railway Limited (CP) and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) have not made significant headway to settle their differences. The TCRC has 16,000 Canadian-members in rail transportation and represents approximately 3,000 locomotive engineers, conductors, train and yard workers across Canada.
On March 16, CP issued a 72-hour notice to the TCRC-Train & Engine to lock out employees if the union leadership and the company were unable to come to a negotiated settlement or agree to binding arbitration. And it added that CP had been negotiating in good faith since September, with Canadian Pacific (CP) and the TCRC leadership earlier this month had been meeting daily with federal mediators to reach a new negotiated collective agreement in hopes of avoiding a labor disruption.
“Despite those talks, our positions remain far apart,” CP said in a statement issued on March 16. “Yesterday, CP tabled an offer that addressed a total of 26 outstanding issues between the parties, including an offer to resolve the TCRC’s key issues of wages, benefits and pensions through final and binding arbitration.”
TCRC had a different take, with the organization’s spokesperson Dave Fulton saying on March 18 that this lockout denotes Canadian Pacific’s irresponsibility in terms of labor relations, as demonstrated by its poor behavior at the bargaining table.
“The lockout also demonstrates CP’s irresponsibility with regards to the continuity of the overall Canadian supply chain,” said Fulton in a statement. “After a never-ending pandemic, exploding commodity prices and the war in Ukraine, this lockout adds an unnecessary layer of insecurity for many Canadians. We acknowledge that the negotiations are difficult and that the parties are far apart. However, the TCRC has been and continues to be committed to remaining at the table and working with federal mediators to reach a negotiated settlement. It is well known that CP was the first to put the work stoppage on the table, and went so far as to forecast that the stoppage was coming.”
What’s more, TCRC observed that over the course of these negotiations, CP wants to extend the possibility that its workers spend longer periods away from home, with Fulton explaining that CP wants to reserve its ability to force workers to take the federal government's mandated reset break at the away-from-home terminal instead of the home terminal.
“This would extend lay-overs, or the time spent en route, by a minimum of 32 hours,” Fulton said. “However, the intent of this provision was to have the reset break occur at the home terminal to achieve proper rest and work-life balance.
While those differing opinions could be viewed as opening salvos, of sorts, CP said on Sunday, March 20 that as it was engaged in negotiations facilitated by federal mediators, TCRC subsequently withdrew its services and then issued a new release, which CP said misrepresented that status of the negotiations.
“We are deeply disappointed that, in the final hours before a legal strike or lockout was to potentially occur, the TCRC Negotiating Committee failed to respond to the company’s latest offer that was presented to them by the federal mediators,” said Keith Creel, CP President and Chief Executive Officer in a statement. “Instead, the TCRC opted to withdraw their services before the deadline for a strike or lockout could legally take place. The TCRC is well aware of the damage this reckless action will cause to the Canadian supply chain.”
CP said that the TCRC Negotiating Committee issued a news release that misrepresented the truth.
“The release falsely claimed that CP had initiated a lockout,” it said. “Contrary to the TCRC Negotiating Committee’s claim, the work stoppage was initiated by the TCRC. In reality, it was CP, with the Director General, Federal and Conciliation Services, that remained waiting at the table with the desire to continue bargaining. This is clearly a failure of the TCRC Negotiating Committee’s responsibility to negotiate in good faith. The company will be reviewing avenues to have this egregious behavior properly addressed.
As a result of the TCRC’s action, CP is executing a safe and structured shutdown of its train operations across Canada and will work closely with customers to wind-down Canadian operations.”
Prior to that, TCRC said that was not the case, noting that prior to the lockout being announced TCRC wanted to continue bargaining, also saying that CP chose to put the Canadian supply chain and tens of thousands of jobs at risk and adding what it called an unnecessary layer of insecurity, especially for those who depend on the rail network.
“We are very disappointed with this turn of events,” said TCRC spokesperson Fulton. “Canadian Pacific management must be taken to task for this situation. They set the deadline for a lockout to happen tonight, when we were willing to pursue negotiations. Even more so, they then moved the goalpost when it came time to discuss the terms of final and binding arbitration.”
TCRC went on to say that in final and binding arbitration, the parties agree to accept the arbitrator's decision as final.
“The Teamsters were willing to explore this type of arbitration, but were unable to reach an agreement with the employer,” it said. “Wages and pensions remain major stumbling blocks. However, also at issue in these talks are working conditions that call into question the railway’s capacity to recruit and retain workforce members.”
A Morgan Stanley research note observed that CP management said at a recent conference that it would be a tragedy to the Canadian economy” to have a strike right now as it would impact customers significantly by increasing costs and it would create uncertainties to the network.