As you may be aware CN locomotive engineers are threatening to strike. Details concerning the status of labour negotiations between CN and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) representing the CN locomotive engineers in Canada follow.
It is understood that the last agreement ended on December 31, 2008. Conciliators were appointed by the Minister of Labour on June 29. CN and the union have held conciliation talks periodically since the appointment of the conciliators.
Pressure is beginning to be applied by both sides, but according to JJ Ruest, Senior VP Marketing, CN, discussions are continuing and while the CTRC is now conducting a vote to give the union executive the authority to call a strike, the vote will not be concluded until October 5 and then there must be 72 hours notice of a strike or lockout. The earliest that a strike could begin is therefore Thursday, October 8. If there is a rotating strike, CN will likely lock out the engineers and have management cover those operations.
Government departments are aware of the obvious concerns and are considering options should a work stoppage occur.
The following link to the Labour Canada website provides the status of current major labour negotiations in both public and private sectors. The railway negotiations are in the second group in the linked table.
Following also is a list of agreements terminating during 2009, all industries. Several CN and CP agreements are included in the list.