(Source: Teamsters Canada Rail Conference press release, January 27, 2012)
OTTAWA — Canadian National’s 1,800 locomotive engineers have ratified a new collective agreement. Ninety-five percent voted in favour of the deal, which will expire in 2014.
The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) has set up a new electronic voting system for this vote, supervised by an outside firm. Seventy percent of the members has cast a vote.
“This is a historic vote,” said TCRC president Rex Beatty. “The results clearly show our members’ resounding endorsement of this agreement.”
Highlights include a 9% increase of the wages over the term of the contract and improvements to a number of non monetary clauses. The grievance procedures and rest time have been improved. The Union made no concessions.
“We used a very different strategy for this bargaining round and it paid off, showing that the Teamsters Union can be both a watchdog for workers and a partner for the employer,” added the TCRC president.
The outcome of these negotiations once again demonstrates the usefulness of unions in maintaining good labour conditions for workers and protecting jobs.