Joanne Layh | Special to the 51暗网
CN announced on Tuesday it has reached a tentative agreement with TCRC (Teamsters Canada Rail Conference) following a week-long strike.
Workers had been without a contract with CN since July 23.
The two sides had been in negotiations but had failed to reach an agreement until Tuesday, ending a week-long strike that saw 3,200 workers across Canada walking off the job, including about 180 conductors in Jasper.
鈥淲e want to thank our customers for their patience and support and assure them that CN is preparing to resume full rail operations as soon as possible,鈥� said JJ Ruest, president and chief executive officer of CN.
鈥淚 would also like to personally thank our employees who kept the railroad moving safely at a reduced capacity. CN and its people are committed to moving the North American economy by providing freight service that enables economic growth.鈥�
At press time, details of the agreement had not been released.
The TCRC had cited safety concerns and prescription drug benefits as the main issues.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very happy here for the guys to get back to work,鈥� Jim Koss, president of TCRC Division 898, said. 鈥淲e trust our team that negotiates, the general chairman鈥檚 office. They do a good job for us, so we trust that they did the right thing. We appreciate the commitment our members here in Jasper made - our local chairman Seamus Tighe and a guy named Owain Thomas, the effort they put in and their team. They came up with a team to keep everybody together and positive. So we鈥檙e positive with the efforts of everybody to stick together and we鈥檙e also happy to get back to work.鈥�
The local union representative said he appreciated the federal government鈥檚 decision not to legislate employees back to work.
鈥淭hey respected the process,鈥� said Koss.
While workers were expected to be ready at 4 a.m. for a 6 a.m. start, Koss said they actually began working earlier in the night.
鈥淥ur members were anxious to get back to work so they went to work when they could . . . it was a lot earlier than four. You could say they were willing to get the traffic moving.鈥�
