Conductors and engineers for Canadian Pacific Railway have voted for labour peace following a 33-hour strike in late May.
CP’s 3,100-odd conductors and engineers, represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), announced July 20 they have voted to ratify a four-year agreement.
Almost 63 per cent of eligible employees cast electronic ballots in the ratification vote, which closed July 20 with 1,292 of 1,996 votes (64.7 per cent) in favour of the deal, the TCRC said in a memo to members.
Of the four-year deal, CP CEO Keith Creel said it “provides certainty and stability for not only employees at CP, but for customers, shareholders and the broader economy.”
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The TCRC-led employees’ ratification follows a similar vote last month by CP signal and communication (S+C) employees.
That bargaining group includes about 360 staff represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) System Council No. 11, who walked off the job in May along with the conductors and engineers.
Rail operations resumed May 31 after CP and union negotiators reached tentative agreements with help from federal mediators.
Grain groups hailed the CP staff’s return to work at the end of May. “With grain bins and elevators still full across the Prairies we are counting on both railways to work to full capacity to get our backlogged grain to export position,” Grain Growers of Canada president Jeff Nielsen said in a statement at the time.
A separate five-year agreement has also been ratified by conductors and engineers for CP’s Kootenay Valley Railway, CP said July 20. The KVR operates in British Columbia’s southern interior. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
