CN optimistic despite potential strike risk

A CN Railway executive says there’s lots of track left ahead before it comes down to a labour disruption.

The organization has been dealing with multiple workforce disputes over the past year, and another is impending.

November 25 CN clerks and mechanics approved a strike mandate. According to their union, Unifor, the two groups voted 97 and 96 per cent in favour of job action, respectively. They are calling for improved compensation, job security and working conditions.

This would affect around 2,500 workers.

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At Canadian Western Agribition’s Grain Expo, Sandra Ellis, CN’s vice-president for bulk, spoke briefly about the vote for job action, saying CN is actively in negotiations.

“We continue to be at the table. Both parties have agreed that we’re going to negotiate, and we have dates booked, we’re at the table this week already,” Ellis said.

Despite the overwhelming majority of workers voting in favour of job action, Ellis said she is optimistic that they can come to an agreement.

“We are hopeful and are working on it together to come to an agreement,” she said.

This follows CN’s challenging contract talks and the labour stoppage with railroad workers earlier this year. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union contract expired at the end of 2023, which put them into negotiations. By the summer, negotiations and offers had been tabled and binding arbitration had been requested by CN. Before the workers could strike, CN locked out its employees for one day on Aug. 22. While Ellis says that was done to protect the economy, the company faced criticism for it at the time, with the union saying the lockout was antagonizing.

“What this meant was that we could shut down the railroad in a planned way, which put us in the best situation to start up as quickly and as efficiently as possible,” Ellis said at Grain Expo.

The situation ended with the federal government mandating binding arbitration, which is scheduled to take place in 2025.
Now, CN’s Unifor workers could strike by Jan. 1 if no agreement comes to fruition.