(Reuters circulated the following article on April 12.)
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Canadian National Railway Co. and its unionized locomotive engineers on CN’s Illinois Central rail property have reached a tentative contract, officials said on Tuesday.
Details of the four-year deal with the 400 workers represented by the Teamster’s Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen unit were not released pending a ratification vote.
CN Rail and the union said the agreement maintains the hourly wage structure and work rules introduced with the current labor contract rather than returning to the mileage-based pay system of previous agreements.
“This tentative agreement confirms my belief that the hourly agreement has been the right way to go in the rail industry,” John Koonce, the BLET’s general chairman, said in a written statement.
The agreement covers the locomotive engineers working on the former Illinois Central Railroad, and not those other former U.S. railways owned by Montreal-headquartered Canadian National.
If ratified by the workers, the contract would begin on August 1. The Illinois Central’s mainline runs from Chicago to the Gulf of Mexico. It was acquired by CN Rail in 1998.
CN Rail is still negotiating with the Teamsters over a contract for 1,750 locomotive engineers in Canada. More talks are planned in early May, and the sides have agreed to hold off on any job action at least until May 12.