(CN distributed the following press release on March 19.)
MONTREAL — CN said today members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) on its 1,200-mile Northern Quebec Territory (NQT) have ratified a new collective agreement that preserves flexible work practices and hourly rates of pay.
The five-year agreement will increase wages and benefits for 65 BLE members retroactive to May 1, 2000.
With this settlement, CN has completed all labour negotiations on the NQT with unions representing more than 250 employees.
Keith L. Heller, senior vice-president of CN s Eastern Canada Division, said: The NQT was established in 1995 with flexible work rules and hourly pay for train and engine personnel that are similar to those employed by low-cost short-line railways.
The new approach has worked the NQT is now a competitive component of CN s network and an important generator of traffic for the railway. The wage increases in these new agreements – the first in eight years – recognize the contribution that NQT employees have made to CN since 1995.
Canadian National Railway Company spans Canada and mid-America, from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to the Gulf of Mexico, serving the ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert, B.C., Montreal, Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and the key cities of Toronto, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Duluth, Minn./Superior, Wis., Green Bay, Wis., Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, St. Louis, and Jackson, Miss., with connections to all points in North America.