Red Deer CPKC employees maintain the picket line on day two -- Aug. 23, 2024 -- of the lockout. (rdnewsNOW/Ashley Lavallee-Koenig)

By rdnewsNOW Staff

REST PROVISIONS KEY, red deer workers say

CPKC workers push back on ministerial order, while CN trains temporarily resume

Aug 23, 2024 | 3:40 PM

CN trains have started rolling across the tracks again after a Canada-wide work stoppage that began on August 22, however the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) has issued a 72-hour strike notice to CN that could see the stoppage resume at 10 a.m. on August 26.

Meanwhile, Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) shared in a statement late on August 22 that its union workers, “refused to discuss any resumption of service, and instead indicated that they wish to make submissions to challenge the constitutionality of the Minister’s direction, as well as the Canada Industrial Relations Board’s discretion to proceed with any order.”

A binding arbitration order was announced by Canadian Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon the same afternoon the stoppage began, a move that NDP leader Jagmeet Singh spoke unfavourably of. No comment has been made by the United Conservative party.

In Red Deer, CPKC workers remained on the picket lines Friday afternoon.

“It’s a little unfortunate. The CIRB has already ruled that we don’t have any essential services that need to be maintained, and one day of a work stoppage we don’t feel constitutes an emergency. We think a deal can still be reached at the table and that’s what we’re hoping for,” shared Brandon Myre, local chairman, Locomotive Engineers for Division 356, Red Deer CPKC.

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Myre said that his division’s main concern is regarding rest provisions for workers, as Transport Canada has released new provisions that they would like to see enforced at home terminals.

“Right now, we have guys that are being reset at the away from home terminal, which causes them to be away from home for three and sometimes four days without notice. We don’t believe that an employee can be properly rested without knowing they’re going to be reset,” he said.

“And when they’re away from their family and their home responsibilities — part of rest is also taking care of your home life and all those kinds of responsibilities, and you can’t do that when you’re stuck at a company facility away from it.”

He stressed that union members aren’t striking to gouge for more money or because they hate their jobs, as he imagines some Canadians might think.

“Our contract has expired. We’re trying to get a new contract done,” he said. “This is part of the collective bargaining process and it’s about safety and workers being properly rested.”

rdnewsNOW and The Canadian Press will have more on this story in the hours and days to come.

(with files from The Canadian Press)

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