WATCH ABOVE: Billy Shields has more on how the CP rail strike may affect Montreal commuters.
MONTREAL – More than 3,000 Teamsters members have gone on strike at the Canadian Pacific Railway after contract talks failed to reach an agreement before the midnight deadline.
The strike could already be felt at places like the Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue commuter rail station.
“I was expecting to get on the train and go back to Montreal,” said Abe Pedersen, who lives in NDG but was visiting family for the weekend in the West Island.
“As I’ve just been informed, I’m going to have to find another alternative.”
Andre Derepentigny said he was mapping out his son’s morning commute to downtown Montreal for his first working internship, which starts Monday. But with news of the strike, those plans just became much more complicated.
“It’s going to be a mess,” he said.
“A lot of people do take the train.”
READ MORE: Government to introduce legislation Monday to end rail strike: source
At the same time, however, a strike by the railway’s 1,800 Unifor members was averted when a tentative agreement was reached in Montreal just minutes before the strike deadline.
The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union represents 3,300 locomotive engineers and other train workers at CP.
In a statement issued Sunday morning CP said it would deploy management personnel to operate a reduced freight service on its Canadian network.
WATCH: How the CP Rail strike affect Montreal commuters
The railway also said it would be advising its customers on how they would be affected by the work stoppage.
Labour and Status of Women Minister Kellie Leitch had been involved in the bargaining effort and made her feelings clear in a statement issued after the talks failed.
“I am incredibly disappointed that the TCRC failed to reach an agreement with CP Rail,” she said.
Leitch was also clear about the federal government’s next course of action.
“Due to this reckless disregard for Canadians, and the Canadian economy, our government will review all available options to end any work-stoppage expediently, up to and including the introduction of legislation in Parliament.”
The minister urged the union to end the strike immediately and return to the negotiating table.
In Montreal, Mayor Denis Coderre echoed the same sentiments.
“The AMT is an essential service,” he said.
“The worst might happen, and if so the government of Canada has to do something about it.”
Teamsters Canada president Douglas Finnson said in a statement that picket lines were being set up across the country and that the rail shut down was underway.
Finnson added that despite the “complete breakdown” of bargaining Saturday night the union had advised CP that its negotiators would remain available to broker an agreement that would ensure “a healthy and safe” work environment for its members.
The union leader also indicated that the railway’s most recent contract offer still contained demands for unacceptable concessions.
CP, for its part, contends that it proposed fair options at the bargaining table, including wage increases, better benefit plans and changes to work schedules to improve the quality of life for engineers and conductors.
It was unclear Sunday morning exactly how the labour action would impact rail service.
- Posters promoting ‘Steal From Loblaws Day’ are circulating. How did we get here?
- Canadian food banks are on the brink: ‘This is not a sustainable situation’
- Video shows Ontario police sharing Trudeau’s location with protester, investigation launched
- Solar eclipse eye damage: More than 160 cases reported in Ontario, Quebec
But a Teamsters spokesman suggested last week that any disruption of service would have a widespread effect on industries that rely on trains, and that CP managers and other staff would be hard-pressed to maintain service.
In Montreal the work stoppage will affect commuters who use rail lines in Candiac, Vaudreuil-Hudson and St. Jerome but the AMT will provide free bus service on Monday to compensate for the lack of trains.
The regional authority Agence Metropolitaine de Transport tried and failed to secure an injunction that would have forced CP to maintain passenger rail service for the 19,000 daily commuters who use the CP-run train routes.
Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz stated Friday that the government would “look at all the tools they had available” to ensure the economy didn’t suffer if a stoppage occurred.
In 2012, the federal government passed legislation to force an end to a nine-day strike by some 4,800 striking members of the Teamsters union and CP Rail employees.
It was estimated at the time that a prolonged strike would cost the Canadian economy $540 million a week.
The Unifor members, whose collective agreement expired on December 31, conduct safety inspections on all rail cars and locomotives, as well as maintenance and repairs.
The union issued a statement just after midnight that said ratification votes by members across the country would be scheduled over the next three weeks once local presidents and workplace chairpeople have had a chance to review the accord.
“This was a very difficult set of negotiations, but I’m pleased that we were able to break new ground in several different areas,” Unifor National President Jerry Dias said in the statement.
Unifor Local 101R’s Tom Murphy said “We were able to negotiate a new agreement that addresses the concerns raised by our members.”
Separate negotiations have also been taking place between the two unions and Canadian National Railway.
Late Saturday, Teamsters Canada announced a tentative three-year agreement had been reached with CN.
— With files from Billy Shields
Comments