Employees at Canadian Pacific Railway in Medicine Hat are some the 3000 Teamsters Canada Rail Conference members who walked off the Job Sunday after negotiations between the union and CP failed. Both parties say they are working with federal mediators (Tiffany Goodwein/CHATNEWS)

By Tiffany Goodwein

Workers on picket lines with no deal between CP Rail, union

Mar 20, 2022 | 8:00 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Employees with CP Rail were out on the picket lines Sunday after contract negotiations between CP Rail and its union, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, failed.

Local teamsters division president 322 Ron Peters said approximately 300 workers are off the job. There are 26 issues at stake between the two parties. Peters said one of the main issues is their pension.

“The company has not paid in their portion of the pension for a few years now, and basically it is all funding on us. We have a great pension but we are capped, and we were capped 10 years ago, and we want to see that cap raised.”

Another issue is wages. Peters the union would like to see them raised, especially given the rising cost of living due to inflation. Peters said what was originally proposed by the union was a 3.5 per cent wage increase, lower than what CP Rail proposed.

“The company wants a two-year contract at 2.5 per cent, and 2 per cent,” he said.

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The work stoppage began at 1 a.m. eastern time, and concerns have been raised across the country about the further impact to the supply chain.

In a statement this morning, CP Rail said they are executing a safe and structured shutdown of its train operations across Canada and noted they “will work closely with customers to wind-down Canadian operations”.

CP Rail also fired back at claims made by Teamsters Canada Rail Conference that state CP Rail caused the work stoppage. But the union is standing firm in their position.

“We didn’t want the work stoppage. The union was negotiating with the company right up until the end, and from the union’s standpoint the company locked us out,” he said.

Unless an agreement is reached, workers will be at the picket lines on North Railway from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.