About 5,000 CN Rail employees across the country will start returning to work on Friday if they ratify a second tentative contract to end a four-week strike.

Negotiators for Canadian National Railway Co. and the Canadian Auto Workers union reached the tentative three-year contract in Toronto early yesterday after finally resolving a dispute over a disciplinary system for employee rule infractions.

The CAW said mechanics, clerks, safety inspectors and intermodal yard employees will vote during the next couple days and the union will release results Thursday. If workers ratify the deal, they will begin returning to their jobs on Friday, the union added.

Meanwhile, the union also announced that it had reached a contract settlement for an owner-operator group of about 400 CN intermodal truck drivers who were not on strike. The two sides did not release any details.

The strike, which affected about 25 per cent of CN's workforce, has caused problems for some customers who rely on rail for delivery of goods for production and transportation of finished products.

CN, Canada's biggest railway, has lost some traffic but it used managers and contractors on overtime to stay in business.

The contract, which is retroactive to Jan. 1, gives workers wage increases of 3 per cent annually during the next three years, a $1,000 signing bonus, higher shift premiums, improvements in vision care benefits and the potential for better retirement income if a company pension account reaches a certain level.

The workers earn between $40,000 and $60,000 a year.

They rejected a first tentative contract and walked off the job Feb. 20.

The union, which is recommending acceptance, did not win any higher wages because of the strike. However, it gained a fairer disciplinary system, the bonus plus some improved benefits, says Gary Fane, the CAW's transportation director.

Fane said the first contract rejection resulted from a lack of recognition of worker concerns over disciplinary practices.

"We learned a lot," Fane said in an interview after the final round of all-night bargaining. "We had problems in the workplace that we had not understood how important they were to our members."

After the first contract rejection, the union pressed for changes to a system of discipline that the company introduced a few years ago. Fane described the system as "heavy-handed."

In negotiations, the union gained provisions that reverted to the previous disciplinary procedure with a series of infractions gradually leading to dismissal.

Jim Feeny, director of public affairs for CN in Western Canada, said the company would not discuss negotiations.

"We're pleased the negotiations were successful, but we're not commenting further until after the ratification vote," he said. The strike caused manufacturers to switch freight from rail to truck so they would bypass struck terminals.

Some manufacturers such as Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. cancelled a few shifts and lost auto production when plant workers who are also CAW members refused to unload or load rail cars.

CN said the strike was not affecting its ability to serve customers. It also won court orders to open up picket lines at several intermodal yards.

Earlier this month, forestry companies, auto makers, chemical manufacturers and grain producers had pressed for government intervention if the two sides could not end the strike soon. Talks resumed last week when CN indicated it would submit a "final, enhanced offer." A tentative settlement was reached at 4 a.m. yesterday.