(The following story by Brent Jang appeared on the Globe and Mail website on April 18.)
TORONTO — A bitter labor dispute at Canadian National Railway Co. is headed for arbitration, upsetting union leaders who now warn that their demands for improved wages and working conditions will likely be shunted aside.
With federal back-to-work legislation looming, that has shifted the spotlight to the impending role of a government-appointed arbitrator. While Ottawa has yet to say who will head the arbitration process for a national contract, the United Transportation Union said Montreal-based CN is in the driver’s seat.
“A third-party agreement is always less preferable than a negotiated settlement,” UTU spokesman Frank Wilner said in an interview yesterday.
The arbitrator will have a mandate to deliver a “winner-take-all” decision either in favour of management or the union, but UTU leaders say the process stacks the deck in favor of CN.
“This move is a special gift to CN Rail from their friends in Ottawa,” UTU vice-president John Armstrong said in a statement. “Only bargaining, not a back-to-work law, will resolve the many outstanding issues at CN.”
The UTU said the arbitrator, to be appointed by federal Labor Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn, will have 90 days to impose an agreement.
Ottawa has seldom used back-to-work legislation in the past decade. It did so in 1999 to end a public sector dispute.
Industry officials welcomed Ottawa’s move to end the CN labor dispute. “We’re fast approaching seeding season, and farmers need fertilizer on hand,” said Clyde Graham, vice-president of strategy and alliances at the Canadian Fertilizer Institute. “Every day is critical.”
Chris Badger, the Port of Vancouver’s operations vice-president, said harsh winter weather and the CN strike in February already hampered exports, so shippers can’t afford further rail disruptions.
Officials at CN and the UTU remain far apart on wages and working conditions. The 2,800-member UTU went on strike Feb. 10, but ended the walkout after a proposed one-year deal was reached on Feb. 24. On April 10, the UTU announced that its members refused to ratify that deal.
CN then locked out about 300 UTU members at eight locations on April 11, shortly after rotating strikes began. Those employees are expected to return to their jobs by the end of this week.
CN, which is facing the defection of UTU members to a rival union, declined to comment yesterday on pending arbitration for a national contract. For the foreseeable future, the arbitration process would overtake the railway’s announcement on Monday that it would pursue regional labor pacts, after management abandoned efforts to reach a national deal.
The UTU said yesterday that CN would contravene the Canada Labor Code if it were to revive efforts to reach regional labor pacts.
Rex Beatty, a former UTU negotiator, said the Canada Industrial Relations Board thwarted CN’s efforts last year to negotiate regionally.
In February, UTU international’s board of directors removed Mr. Beatty and three other UTU Canada officials from their positions.
The UTU international alleges that the four UTU Canada leaders were negotiating with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union for a new affiliation.
More than 1,900 UTU members have signed Teamsters cards.