Conductors, engineers and signal maintainers at Canadian Pacific Railway won’t be walking off the job Saturday, but will instead vote soon on a contract offer their unions recommend they reject. Federal Labour Minister Patty Hajdu on Friday agreed to a request from CP to have the Canadian Industrial Relations Board administer a ratification vote on […] Read more
Strike action postponed at CP
CP talks said stagnating as strike deadline looms
Montreal/Vancouver | Reuters –– Canada’s biggest rail union said no progress had been made in negotiations on Friday with Canadian Pacific Railway to reach a deal before a Saturday deadline as worries about a potential strike weighed on the country’s crude oil prices. If the two sides fail to reach a deal, a strike is […] Read more
Grain handle down, costs up in CP’s Q1
Increased traffic in potash and intermodal containers offset an eight per cent drop in grain carloads in Canadian Pacific Railway’s first quarter, against higher costs and “challenging” conditions. Calgary-based CP on Wednesday booked net income of $348 million on gross revenues of $1.662 billion for the quarter ending March 31, down from $431 million on […] Read more
Two unions set to strike Saturday at CP
Unions representing engineers, conductors and signal maintainers on Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) have served formal notice to strike starting Saturday. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), which represents about 3,000 CP engineers and conductors, served strike notice late Tuesday, as did System Council No. 11 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), representing over […] Read more
CP conductors, engineers authorize strike
Montreal | Reuters — Canadian Pacific Railway conductors and locomotive engineers on Friday voted to authorize a strike action that could have the 3,000 workers walk off the job as early as April 21, Teamsters Canada said in a statement. The workers, whose collective agreement expired late last year, are asking for more predictable schedules […] Read more
Canadian railways in catch-22 over crude shipment
Reuters — Canadian railway operators see a lucrative opportunity to transport more crude oil to the U.S. as a rise in output forces producers to find new routes to its southern neighbour. However, their need for long-term contracts and the pressure to move a surplus of grains in the country is making it hard to […] Read more
G3 expanding into Alberta market
The grain company formerly known as the Canadian Wheat Board plans to start work next month on two new elevators including its first in Alberta. G3 Canada announced Tuesday it will build a 42,000-tonne capacity elevator at Wetaskiwin in central Alberta, between Edmonton and Red Deer, and a similar-sized elevator at Maidstone, Sask., about 55 […] Read more
U.S. rail regulator tackles railroads over customer complaints
Reuters — The top U.S. rail regulator has asked major railroads for information on service levels before meeting disgruntled shippers and other customers over complaints about service delays and higher costs. In letters to the CEOs of the railroads, dated Friday and posted Monday on the U.S. Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) website, the regulator requested […] Read more
Get grain moving again, KAP says
Move western grain, ASAP. That’s the blunt and urgent message Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) president Dan Mazier told an emergency meeting of the House of Commons’ agriculture committee Monday in Ottawa. The 2013-14 grain shipping backlog cost Western farmers around $6.5 billion and the current one will cost billions again, Mazier said. The first step […] Read more
CN apologizes as farm groups, Ottawa press on rail service
Canada’s largest railway has taken the unusual step of apologizing for its pace of grain delivery in recent weeks and pledging “immediate steps” to improve its grain handle. After parting ways with its CEO Luc Jobin on Monday, Canadian National Railway (CN), through interim CEO Jean-Jacques Ruest, said Wednesday it “apologize(s) for not meeting the […] Read more
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