Canadian Railroads > CP employees vote down company's final offer by bigger margin

CP running trades and signals employees have voted down the company's final offer.
Running trades, represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, voted down the final offer by 98.1%.
In April, the same employees voted 94.2% in a strike vote.

Both the company and the unions have expressed their desire to meet today.

http://www.cpr.ca/en/media/tcrc-train-engine-and-ibew-vote-down-cps-final-offers-in-cirb-administered-ratification-vote

http://teamsters.ca/en/blog/2018/05/25/teamsters-vote-to-reject-cp-offer/

CP posted a comparison of their offer to the comparable contract at CN

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ae3709e8ab722d49d49a9e5/t/5afcda95758d467e1322b576/1526520471115/One+Union+Two+Railways.pdf

2 % salary increase does not equal inflation rate.

tomstp Wrote:
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> 2 % salary increase does not equal inflation
> rate.

Core consumer inflation rate in Canada in April was 1.5% (annualized).

Tuesday morning is the proposed beginning of the strike.

Does the Canadian labor system have a cooling off period, or mandatory arbitration for situations like this? Or is it already past that point?

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> Tuesday morning is the proposed beginning of the
> strike.
>
> Does the Canadian labor system have a cooling off
> period, or mandatory arbitration for situations
> like this? Or is it already past that point?


The situation so far, contract negotiations ended in April without resolve, the unions issued strike notice for early in May, the Federal Government mandated a "cooling off period" during which the employees were to vote on a Government supervised "Final Offer" from the railway.
The employees voted to reject the final offer, and strike notice has again been issued by the Teamsters and the IBEW (Electrical Workers)

Meanwhile, the Teamsters and the CN signed a five year contract for the operating employees which is bound to be seen as a legal precedent for the dispute resolution on CP.

The next move is up to the unions, the railway and the Federal Government. The railway and the unions can agree to continue negotiating, possibly with the assistance of a mutually agreed upon mediator, thus delaying any strike action.

They may choose not to negotiate, meaning the strike may occur Tuesday.

Based on past experience, should a strike take place, there will be strong pressure for the Federal Government to appoint an arbitrator to settle the issue. The Federal Government would then issue "back to work legislation", a power that it has had since WW2 that would require the workers to return to work immediately. An arbitrator would be selected by the Federal Government who would then take a period of time to render a decision. Unlike mediation, the arbitrators decision is final and binding on both the railway and its employees.

Getting the legislation in place and an arbitrator selected usually takes about a week.

In the forty years I have been observing and working for the CPR, there have been two arbitrated settlements following strike action. There have been many mutual settlements achieved without the threat of strike action and there have been mediated settlements reached to avoid strike action and arbitration. As one veteran mediator expressed, when it comes to the CPR, just about any possible type of settlement has taken place over the years.

The Federal Minister of Labour oversees many contract negotiations, 93% of which are settled without strike action or arbitration.

Thanks for that detailed explanation

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