Arbitrator grants decision over labor issuesFollowing stalled negotiations between the Canada National Railway Company (CN) and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), CN recently announced it will begin implementing an arbitrator's ruling, which sets the terms and conditions of a new three-year collective agreement between the CN and the TCRC, which represents 1,700 locomotive engineers in Canada.
CN officials said that terms of the arbitrator's decision are retroactive to January 1, 2009 and expire on December 31, 2011. The decision provided a 1.8 percent wage increase in 2009, 2.4 percent in 2010, and 2.6 percent in 2011, as well as other benefits that take effect on next Wednesday, April 1.
"With a secure labour agreement in place, we will now work to re-establish a positive dialogue with the TCRC, focusing on issues of common interest for the company, its employees and its customers," said Claude Mongeau, CN president and chief executive officer, in a statement.
Turning to a third-party was part of an agreement reached between CN and the TCRC in early December. CN's TCRC members went on strike on November 28 over various wage and benefits issues. One of these issues is due to a decision made by the CN to increase engineers' wages by 1.5 percent and raise its monthly mileage cap to 4,300 miles from 3,800 miles. TCRC-represented conductors currently have a 4,300-mile monthly cap limitation, and TCRC-represented engineers have a 3,800-mile monthly cap limitation.
CN said on November 23 that with this rule change-for mileage limitations-both groups of employees working in a locomotive cab will be working under one consistent rule, and the engineers will see an overall compensation increase, adding that engineers currently work 15-to-17 days per month. The company added that it reached an impasse with the TCRC after negotiating for 14 months before invoking these changes. The previous contract between CN and the TCRC expired December 31, 2008.
But on Wednesday December 2, CN and the TCRC said that they have agreed to continue negotiations to resolve all issues related to wages, benefits, and work rules, and if an agreement is not reached their offers will then be subject to final, binding arbitration.
CN officials added at that time that the railroad will roll back the monthly mileage cap for locomotive engineers to the previous 3,800 miles from the 4,300 mile cap that went into effect on November 28 and also withdraw its plan to apply a 1.5 percent wage increase to TCRC members.
Following the December 2 agreements, CN Director, Communications and Public Affairs Mark Hallman, told LM that this was a "good faith effort to break the logjam," adding that CN was willing to drop it demands if the TCRC would drop theirs."
source : www.logisticsmgmt.com