(Source: Canadian Pacific Railway press release, September 9, 2014)
CALGARY, Alberta — Canadian Pacific and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference Rail Canada Traffic Controllers (TCRC-RCTC) announced today that a labour agreement covering approximately 135 rail traffic controllers in Canada has been ratified.
The agreement was ratified with a record 94 percent of votes cast in favour.
The agreement spans six years, also a record, and was negotiated before the expiry of the previous agreement. The new contract runs from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2020.
The general wage increase is 3 percent per year. There are other specific adjustments.
In keeping with the leadership shown by the union and members in this agreement, CP agreed to make the increases effective July 18, the signing date. CP also restored the company contribution to this union’s Employee Share Purchase Plan benefit, effective the same date.
“The signing of this agreement is a landmark in many ways and I think we all take some deep satisfaction from that,” said Peter Edwards, Vice President of Human Resources and Labour Relations for Canadian Pacific. “It is really a great example of what people working together can do to create positive results that few would have imagined possible before.”
This is the fifth long term collective agreement in place between CP and its Canadian unions. CP’s International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Teamsters Maintenance of Way (TCRC-MOW), Police (CPPA) and United Steel Workers (USW) employees have all ratified long-term deals with acceptance rates as high as 97.5 percent.
CP currently has two other Canadian labour agreements open to negotiation; Unifor, which represents its mechanical employees, and Teamsters (TCRC) representing its train and engine employees. CP has spoken with both unions and indicated a willingness to bargain and implement new agreements before the expiry of the existing agreements.