MONTREAL, Que. – More than 6,000 mechanical and other workers at CN Rail and Canadian Pacific Railways overwhelmingly voted in favour of strike action Thursday ahead of a resumption of contract talks next week.
The Canadian Auto Workers union, which represents about 6,100 employees at Canada’s two largest railways, said the workers supported a strike mandate in order to demonstrate their opposition to demands for concessions.
CN Rail locals represent 3,400 shopcraft, clerical and intermodal employees, along with 575 owner-operator truck drivers for CNTL, a CN subsidiary.
They voted 82 to 100 per cent in favour of a strike, if necessary. The union has set a strike deadline of Jan. 25 at 12:01 a.m.
Canadian Pacific Local 101 represents 2,100 mechanical workers across the country, who voted 89 per cent in favour of a strike, if necessary. Its strike deadline is Feb. 8 at 12:01 a.m.
Negotiations began in September and are set to resume on Monday in Montreal.
CAW national representative Brian Stevens said the dispute with CP centres on a string of monetary and non-monetary issues, including the railway’s plans to close its Ogden shop in Calgary.
CN Rail spokesman Mark Hallman said the country’s largest railway is confident that new collective agreements can be reached without a disruption to service. He declined to detail the issues of disagreement.
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