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Canadian National Railroad Reaches Last Minute Deal With Unifor

Mary Kennedy
By  Mary Kennedy , DTN Basis Analyst
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Unifor, a union which represents approximately 4,800 Canadian National Railway Company employees in mechanical, intermodal, clerical and other areas of the company's business in Canada has been battling with the CN for 6 months over a new contract. (DTN file photo by Elaine Shein)

OMAHA (DTN) -- West Coast dockworkers and their employers reached a tentative agreement Friday, according to representatives of both sides.

Late afternoon on Friday, Feb. 20, the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) released a joint statement by PMA President James McKenna and International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) President Bob McEllrath, saying: "After more than nine months of negotiations, we are pleased to have reached an agreement that is good for workers and for the industry. We are also pleased that our ports can now resume full operations."

The tentative agreement on a new five-year contract covering workers at all 29 West Coast ports was reached with assistance from U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez and Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Deputy Director Scot Beckenbaugh. The PMA said the parties will not be releasing details of the agreement at this time. The agreement is subject to ratification by both parties.

While all the ports resumed operations immediately, the Port of Oakland experienced some labor issues with the day shift on Feb. 22, resulting in the suspension of those workers. The port's website said while work resumed at the Port of Oakland the evening of Saturday, Feb. 21, it continued Sunday morning but then was suspended for the remainder of the day shift. "The issue is a labor-management dispute over break time. Labor has been requested for the Sunday night shift Feb. 22. It remains to be seen if the labor request will be filled or if operations will resume. Vessel operations -- with one or two exceptions -- will be suspended again Monday, Feb. 23."

The PMA issued a statement on the port's website saying: "An area arbitrator ruled that longshoremen affiliated with Local 10 of the ILWU conducted illegal work stoppages at the Port of Oakland, resulting in port operations being shut down during today's day shift. We will continue to address any future work stoppages by Local 10 through the grievance and arbitration process, and, if necessary, in court. It's hoped that the dispute will be settled in arbitration Monday."

Late Sunday evening, the port issued another statement saying "vessel operations have resumed this evening at the Port of Oakland. Five vessels are being loaded and unloaded. Another three are scheduled for operations. Some requested jobs have gone unfilled."

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The Journal of Commerce said, "The tentative coast-wide contract agreement that was reached Friday evening by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association is just the beginning of a long process West Coast ports must endure to recover from the backlog of containers and vessels, and to restore trust among shippers." A Midwest container shipper told DTN via email it will "take months to sort this mess out."

CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY, UNIFOR AT IMPASSE IN NEGOTIATIONS

On Feb. 18, the Canadian National Railway Company (CN) announced on their website "locomotive engineers and conductors working on the company's Northern Quebec Internal Short line ratified a new collective agreement. The employees are represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) union." The four-year agreement provides wage increases and benefit improvements to 93 employees.

However, another union, Unifor, which represents approximately 4,800 CN employees in mechanical, intermodal, clerical and other areas of the company's business in Canada has rejected the latest offer by the CN. Labor negotiations with Unifor have been going on for almost six months, and on Friday, the talks came to an impasse. Late Friday afternoon, the CN issued a press release urging the union to accept binding arbitration as "the best way to settle their outstanding contractual differences. Barring such an agreement over the weekend, CN will exercise its right under the Canada Labour Code to lockout Unifor's 4,800 members at CN at 2,300 hours, Monday, Feb. 23."

As social media began to "throw stones" over the issue late Friday, @CN_Comm released a statement on Twitter saying, "To be clear, CN is not locking out @UniforTheUnion members yet. We are urging union leadership to sit down and negotiate a deal this weekend."

On Feb. 21, the CN issued another press release saying it was "disappointed with Unifor's recent claims that the company is not bargaining in good faith and is trying to force its agenda on the union through a lockout of the union's 4,800 members."

"If Unifor believes it is advocating the right deal pattern, then the proper forum to get a fair hearing for such a deal pattern is binding arbitration. An independent arbitrator can consider all the facts impartially and decide in fairness what terms are most in line with the interests of CN employees represented by Unifor." Here is a link to the entire Feb. 21 press release: http://goo.gl/…

The two sides did get together on Sunday, Feb. 22, for several hours in Ottawa with officials of the government's Federal Conciliation and Mediation Service, but were unable to negotiate all terms of a new contract. However, the two parties will meet again Monday, Feb. 23, morning in Ottawa to resume collective bargaining.

In a press release late Sunday, the CN said: "In the absence of a negotiated settlement or agreement on binding arbitration by Monday evening, CN will deploy its labor contingency plan, with trained management personnel safely performing the work of Unifor members, to protect service to the best of its ability. CN has begun to advise its customers in Canada of that possibility."

On Monday, Feb 23 with the deadline approaching, the CN negotiated a tentative labor agreement with Unifor. In a press release on their website, they said, "As a result, CN has withdrawn its lockout notice to Unifor, which would have come effective at 2300 hours local time tonight in the absence of a settlement. Details of the tentative agreement are being withheld pending ratification by Unifor members. The union is expected to announce the results of the ratification vote in the next three weeks."

Mary Kennedy can be reached at mary.kennedy@dtn.com

Follow Mary on Twitter @MaryCKenn

(AG/CZ)

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