(The following article by Neco Cockburn was posted on the Toronto Star website on February 20.)
TORONTO — A strike by 5,000 workers at CN Rail that began at 12:01 a.m. today will not disrupt GO Transit service in Toronto, the Canadian Auto Workers union says.
CAW members rejected a three-year contract offer with annual wage increases of 3 per cent, and negotiators failed to reach agreement on wages and working conditions. GO Transit trains, which use CN Rail tracks and carry an average of 145,000 commuters every weekday morning and evening, should not be affected, CAW national representative Abe Rosner said yesterday.
“We are not going to do anything, directly or indirectly, to disturb passenger rail operations either in Via Rail, GO Transit or commuter train service,” Rosner said.
CN and the union, working with Canada’s Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, had tried to work out their differences in Montreal this week after workers rejected three tentative agreements that had been reached last month.
The union got a 90 per cent strike mandate from its members last month. CN said the company would fill key positions with management.
The 5,000 workers provide customer service, safety inspections, trains and railcar repairs, and manual labour in areas where shipments are transferred between trains, trucks and boats. They earn an average annual salary of about $45,000.