(Reuters circulated the following story on April 14.)
TORONTO — No further talks are scheduled to resolve a strike at Canadian National Railway Co. after discussions on Saturday brought no change in the company’s position, the United Transportation Union said.
The union, which represents 2,800 striking CN conductors, brakemen and switch crews in Canada, said CN had not improved a proposal union members had already rejected.
“Just as we feared, CN had nothing to say to suggest that there might be any improvement in the rejected deal,” union vice presidents Bob Sharpe and John Armstrong said in a statement.
CN, the largest of Canada’s two national railways, responded by saying the union was unwilling to address any of the issues the company raised in earlier talks.
“CN is available for further discussions, but no future meeting dates have been scheduled,” spokesman Mark Hallman said.
CN has locked out workers at several terminals in British Columbia and Ontario, where the union began rotating strikes on Tuesday after members voted against a tentative contract.
The union said it was prepared to increase pressure on the railroad, but Hallman said CN was not aware of any additional walkouts.
The latest strike has so far had less of an impact than a wide-scale walkout that disrupted trains across Canada in February and brought a threat of government intervention.
The one-year contract rejected by the workers included a 3 percent wage hike and a C$1,000 ($880) signing bonus. It did not deal with work-rule issues critics said helped prompt the strike.
The previous contract expired at the end of 2006.
CN is using management to replace striking workers, and told customers on Friday it was sending additional people to Vancouver to speed up operations there. CN’s other unionized workers, including engineers, remain on the job.
The strike does not involve CN’s operations in the United States, and the union has said it has no plans to disrupt commuter passenger service in Toronto or Montreal. Via Rail passenger trains are also not involved.