Mediation and arbitration hearings over the weekend have ended in a two-year labour deal for engineers, conductors and train and yard service staff at Canadian Pacific Railway.
The agreement puts a formal lid on the latest round of contract disputes between Calgary-based CP and its 3,000-odd unionized employees represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC).
Those disputes peaked in a two-and-a-half-day work stoppage ending March 22, when the company and union agreed to go to binding arbitration to settle sticking points left unresolved in bargaining.
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The new agreement, as laid out Monday by arbitrator William Kaplan, runs through to the end of 2023.
It provides wage increases of 3.5 per cent for each of 2022 and 2023, plus increases of three and 2.4 per cent to employees’ maximum disability and annual dental benefits respectively.
Kaplan’s binding decision was announced Monday after mediation on Friday and Saturday and a two-day hearing Sunday and Monday.
The arbitrator’s decision also calls for the TCRC to enter an agreement with CP on a pension improvement account (PIA) by the end of next month; the PIA would cover a six-year period ending Jan. 1, 2024 at the earliest.
The decision also updates the amount of time employees serving as union officials or reps can book for rest after taking leave to attend to union business.
CP CEO Keith Creel said Monday the company “welcomes the conclusion of arbitration and is pleased to have completed this agreement.”
TCRC brass, in a separate memo to its CP membership on Monday, said they would review Kaplan’s decisions and provide comments to local chairpersons and the membership “in the very near future.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network
