SYDNEY, N.S. — A union leader for striking conductors and engineers says replacement workers used by the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway have broken safety rules, according to a report in the Cape Breton Post.
Robert Toole, a special representative for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, said Sunday he has documented nine “flagrant” Transport Canada violations — including trains not stopping at public crossings — since the 34 unionized conductors and engineers went on a legal strike last Wednesday.
He said two of the alleged violations stem from a minor weekend derailment outside Port Hawkesbury, where six cars carrying newsprint went off the track.
Toole said a replacement engineer unfamiliar with the territory traversed buffers marking the end of the rails and pushed the cars on to the ground.
“And this was adjacent to cars which are special/dangerous commodities,” Toole said, noting that the train wasn’t equipped with a sensing braking unit, a device that allows enginemen to trigger tail end brake with the push of a button.
“That is also a flagrant violation,” Toole said, speaking from a cell phone outside the gas fractionation plant in Point Tupper, where he said workers weren’t wearing proper attire.