(Bloomberg News circulated the following article by Reg Curren on February 7.)
MONTREAL — Canadian National Railway Co., the country’s biggest railroad, said it plans to use managers to keep its freight trains moving if 2,800 conductors and yard workers go through with a threatened strike this week.
Preparations began after the United Transportation Union- Canada notified the company its members will walk out at 12:01 a.m. Feb. 10, Montreal-based Canadian National said today in a statement. The union’s international headquarters said a strike hadn’t been authorized.
A strike could disrupt shipments of grain, cargo carried in containers and Canadian-built vehicles, most of which move by rail. A 28-day strike in 2004 by 5,000 workers represented by the Canadian Auto Workers union cost the company C$24 million, or 8 cents a share.
“Let me be clear, we will continue freight operations across Canada during a strike, with management personnel performing UTU-represented jobs, and provide the best possible service,” Chief Executive Officer Hunter Harrison said in the statement.
Shares of Canadian National fell 49 cents to C$53.45 at 4:15 p.m. on the Toronto Stock Exchange. They had risen 3.7 percent in the year before today.
The conductors, whose three-year contract expired Dec. 31, are seeking concessions on the amount of time they are required to remain outdoors without breaks and other non-wage issues, union spokesman Rex Beatty said Feb. 2.
`Not Authorized’
The “international has not authorized any strike action against CN,” Frank Wilner, a spokesman for the Cleveland-based union’s international leadership, said in a telephone interview. Beatty, the union’s Canadian spokesman, didn’t immediately return a voice-mail message left at his office.
The conductors, who are responsible for managing a train’s movement, and the yard workers, who handle switching duties in rail yards, are the only labor group in Canada still in contract talks with the company, Canadian National spokesman Mark Hallman said in a telephone interview.
The Canadian Auto Workers said Jan. 29 that 4,000 railroad workers voted to accept new contracts negotiated last month. The contracts cover clerical staff, railroad shop workers and truck operators.
The conductors include 109 who work for Ontario’s GO Transit, the biggest Toronto-area commuter service. The union and Canadian National agreed to maintain normal commuter rail operations in the event of a strike, Canadian National said.
Negotiators for Canadian National and the union continued talks in Montreal today, Hallman said.