NORTH BAY, Ont. — The Ontario Northland Transportation Commission consultant negotiating the purchase of the Ontario Northland Railway with CN Rail has invited ONR union leaders to be part of the negotiations, the North Bay Nugget reported.
Roy Hains said he made the offer to union leaders while informing them Oct. 18 the CN proposal to buy the ONR had come out on top.
Phil Koning, president of the General Chairpersons Association, which represents six ONR unions, said the invitation has been taken under advisement and will be discussed
Thursday, the union-management Internal Solution Group had challenged Hains to release the CN proposal so it could be compared with the ISG plan, which would also be released under those circumstances.
In responding to the challenge Friday Hains said negotiations will not be held publicly.
But, Hains said, there was another way ONR union leaders would be able to find out the details of the CN proposal.
“They could sit at the table with me and help negotiate with CN and help cut the best deal because they’re stakeholders in all of this,” Hains said.
“Their input is important because this is a potential purchase and sale, and the biggest part of our value is not the steel, the timbers or the track beds, but our employees.”
Koning said he’s concerned about the confidentiality surrounding the negotiations.
“Now that we’re dealing with the sale of public assets, the public has a right to know what’s going on,” Koning said.
He’s also not sure just how much union representatives would involved in the negotiations.
“We’d have to be confident that we’re seeing everything there is to see,” Koning said.
“And, would we be allowed to let that information go out to the decision makers so that they could make the decision about about which is the best way to go?” he said. At the same time, Koning said Hains’s offer came as a surprise.
“It certainly isn’t something that’s traditionally done,” Koning said.
CN spokesman Mark Hallman said the company was not aware of the invitation.
“We weren’t at that meeting so it would be difficult to comment on it,” Hallman said.
“But at the same time we’re very eager to meet with representatives of the employee unions as soon as possible to start negotiations for a labour agreement and have them integrated into our workforce.”
Hallman also said negotiations with the ONTC have not yet begun.