commuters, VIA rail to be spared as conductors strike
CLINT THOMAS
February 10, 2007
Canadian National Railway conductors and yard-service workers.
Some 2,800 members of the United Transportation Union employed by CN (TSX:CNR) walked out at 12:01 a.m. Saturday after talks in Montreal failed to reach a deal.
CN is seeking to have the strike declared illegal.
“The company will be applying this morning to the Canada Industrial Relations Board for a declaration that the strike is illegal,” Mark Hallman, a CN spokesman, told The Canadian Press early Saturday.
Hallman said CN has been informed that the certified bargaining agent of the UTU members employed at CN had not authorized the issuance of the notice.
“We dispute that,” Rex Beatty, the union’s chief negotiator said. “Any declaration of whether a strike is illegal or not illegal rests with the Canada Industrial Relations Board, not with CN.”
“We have complied with the provisions of the code and therefore the strike is legal,” Beatty said.
CN said it would continue its freight operations across Canada during a strike, with management personnel performing the union-represented jobs.
“CN’s comprehensive strike contingency plan will assure freight service across our network in Canada during this unfortunate labour action,” E. Hunter Harrison, president and chief executive officer of CN, said in a release.
CN revenues, which totalled $7.2 billion in 2005, come from the movement of goods including petroleum and chemicals, grain and fertilizers, coal, metals and minerals, and forest and automotive products, according to its website.