Special Report:

Work Stoppage Begins for CP Rail Workers
(Editor's Note: Whether it be a lockout or a strike, the fact is that rail service is in the process of grinding to a halt on Canadian Pacific in Canada. While shippers, politicians and federal regulatory agencies scramble to keep labor and management in negotiations and the freight moving, it appears that neither side plans to back down. Specifics of the actual disputed issues are hard to come by, as media sources have generally focused on shipper concerns, supply chain issues, potential goods shortages, and everything other than the actual issues. A worker victory here is crucial to all rail workers in North America, and will set the tone for what is to come south of the border later this year on the Class One railroads in the U.S. Therefore, these workers deserve complete and total solidarity from all of us in the U.S.)
Work Stoppage Begins for CP Rail Workers
Work stoppage is now underway for Canadian Pacific Railway workers. The company and the union representing employees failed to reach an agreement over the weekend, bringing trains across Canada to a halt.
It's CP’s eighth work stoppage in nine trips to the bargaining table and it couldn't have come at a worse time for the Canadian supply chain. CP Rail issued a 72-hour lockout notice on Wednesday to the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, the union that represents the company's roughly 3,000 employees.
“The union unfortunately had to follow up with strike notice in order to protect our members, so we're both locked out and on legal strike,” said Jason Hnatiuk, a local chairman and strike captain. He was one of about a dozen CP Rail employees who marched with signs in the pouring rain at the picket line outside the Port Coquitlam yard Monday morning.
“Spirits are high, but none of us want to be here. This was never our intention,” said Hnatiuk. The company and union both blamed each other for causing the work stoppage, though both also said they were still talking with federal mediators on Sunday.
“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 .... CP employees are calling for better wages, pensions and working conditions. Hnatiuk said despite the financial hit workers are taking, they will remain at picket lines for as long as it takes to reach an agreement.
One Further Note: While business groups and legislators cry the blues about the harmful effects of a potential strike, one never hears them make demands on the rail carrier to do the right thing and settle on favorable terms. Canadian Pacific (historically one of the richest and most powerful corporations in the country) could - in an instant - put an end to the shutdown by agreeing to the modest issues the union and its members have brought to the bargaining table.

Railroad Workers United
Solidarity -- Unity -- Democracy