Railroaders' Nostalgia > "Oh no, I'm falling"

Since the 1950's, the railways of Canada have had their own industrial arbitrator. The CROA, Canadian Railway Office of Arbitration has handled thousand of decisions, ranging from policy grievances to employee dismissals. The arbitrator is an independent third party, always a labour lawyer, appointed and jointly funded by the railways and the unions. He has a very heavy workload.

The CROA decisions are in the public domain and are now available in digital form, complete with an index and cross references.

The full text of the older decisions is still in paper form only and hard to access. Many of these are available only at regional offices of the unions.

Twenty five years ago, I was active in the BLE (Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers) and had occasion to visit the General Chairman's office in Calgary on union business.

While the general chairman was busy, his secretary Donna suggested I read an interesting CROA case which involved an employee dismissal.

The events took place on the QNS&L iron ore railway in Labrador, and involved a railway employee assaulting a company supervisor.

Keep in mind that many employed on the QNS&L were former CN employees from Newfoundland and many were former inshore fishermen.

The supervisor's version of this incident was that he made a request of a certain employee, who responded by swearing at the supervisor, charging toward him, and "head butting" the supervisor in the chest, knocking the supervisor over.

There was a third person present, a janitor who was mopping the floor of the office where the incident took place, and he was called as a witness.

His version was that the employee approached the supervisor to talk to him, slipped on the wet floor, and fell toward the supervisor.
The employee said "Oh no, I'm falling" just before his head contacted the chest of the supervisor, causing the supervisor to fall backwards on the wet floor also. There were minor injuries sustained by the supervisor. The supervisor then fired the employee for "fighting on company property", a dismissal offence in most Labour Codes.

Labradorians have a strong maritime accent (Irish like) and some interesting phrases.

The arbitrator noted the phrase "Oh no, I'm falling" from the employee was meant to warn the supervisor that he was about to be stuck by the employee who had slipped on the floor. The janitor testified that the incident took place as he described.

The arbitrator ordered the employee re-instated and that he be more careful around wet floors.

He also doubted that "Oh no, I'm falling" were the actual words uttered by the employee, but none of the persons involved chose to recall what actually may have been uttered.

I'm sure all involved have long retired from the railway.

These types of stories make a subscription to Trainorders worth it!

Indeed!!