CP Rail employees head to the picket lines as work stoppage begins
CTV
Trains across the country came to a halt Sunday, as CP Rail employees are now off the job and onto the picket lines.
Trains across the country came to a halt Sunday, as CP Rail employees are now off the job and onto the picket lines.
The company’s roughly 3,000 employees, represented by Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), are off the job after the two sides failed to reach a deal before a midnight deadline set by the union and the company for either a strike or a lockout.
"We’re disappointed to once again be in a work stoppage; none of us want to be out here on the picket line," said TCRC local chairman Jason Hnatiuk told CTV News while picketing outside a Port Coquitlam CP Rail office Sunday.
On Wednesday, CP set a 72-hour deadline for a deal to be reached before it locked employees out.
"We had no intention in of shutting the rail down, it was our intention to continue to negotiate in good faith, but unfortunately once the employer issued a lockout notice, we had no choice but to issue a strike notice in order to protect our members," Hnatiuk said.
However, the company is painting a different picture.
“We are deeply disappointed that, in the final hours before a legal strike or lockout was to potentially occur, the TCRC Negotiating Committee failed to respond to the company’s latest offer that was presented to them by the federal mediators,” said Keith Creel, CP’s president and chief executive officer, in a statement.
