(The following article by Curtis Rush was posted on the Toronto Star website on February 7.)
TORONTO — Conductors working for Canadian National Railway Co. in Canada cannot go on strike without authorization from the international union, a spokesperson for the United Transportation Union International said today.
And they don’t have it yet.
The union represents about 2,800 conductors and yard-service personnel in Canada and has threatened to strike at midnight Friday if contract talks in Montreal fail.
The union and CN management have excluded GO Transit and the Montreal commuter rail service from any possible strike action. CN assigns about 106 conductors to the GO rail operations.
Rex Beatty, chief spokesperson for the Canadian union, said the union voted over 96 per cent last week to give the union executive a powerful strike mandate.
However, Frank Wilner, spokesperson for the international union in the United States, told the Star today that “the international union has not sanctioned a strike. Under the union constitution, they (the Canadian union) have to apply for and receive authorization. They have to have that authority to take that action, and so far they haven’t done so.”
Beatty was unavailable to respond.
The international union, based in Cleveland, represents about 125,000 active and retired railroad, bus and mass transit workers in the United States and Canada.
Meanwhile, CN management said in a news release today that, in the event of a strike, it will use management personnel to keep freight operations moving.
“We will continue freight operations across Canada during a UTU strike, with management personnel performing UTU-represented jobs, and provide the best possible service,” said CN president and CEO Hunter Harrison.
“This plan is essential to our customers and the Canadian economy.”
Harrison said he believes there is time to reach a settlement before any strike action.
Key issues are pensions and working conditions.