This is from www.trains.com, remember you saw it here second! UTU threatens to strike Canadian National if contract talks remain stalled The United Transportation Union last week claimed its rank-and-file had endorsed a strike against Canadian National if contract talks don’t progress soon. But CN said that the UTU was jumping the gun, and that it was unclear whether all UTU members in Canada had even voted. “Union members have given us a strong mandate to take strike action if negotiations with CN Rail do not soon show some results," UTU Vice President Guy Scarrow said in a prepared statement released Friday. More than 90 percent supported a strike, he said. The UTU and Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers’ contract with CN expired at the end of last year. Talks between CN and the Canadian Council of Railway Unions have been going on since, but the two sides have not yet reached an agreement. “CN remains optimistic that we can negotiate a renewal...without interruption,” CN spokesman Mark Hallman said. Hallman said the UTU could not act unilaterally on a strike because the BLE is covered under the same Canadian Council of Railway Unions bargaining umbrella. The BLE has not issued a strike vote. “One union can’t do something on its own,” Hallman said. And he added that it was unclear whether UTU members in Western Canada had participated in a strike vote. Moreover, Hallman said that the process for initiating a strike had not begun. Under Canadian labor code, the parties must prepare plans for continuing operations during a strike or lockout. The federal labor minister referred the issue to the Canada Industrial Relations Board on November 19, but no hearings have been scheduled yet, Hallman said. The UTU claimed it represents 4500 conductors and yard workers on CN. But CN put the figure at 2700. The 4500 figure could be reached if the 1860 members of the BLE were included in the UTU, but the fate of the UTU-BLE merger proposal won’t be determined until December 10. "CN's management philosophy – the beatings will continue until morale improves – is not working," Scarrow said. "We have a determined group of workers who are willing to fight to improve working conditions." Hallman declined to comment on Scarrow’s view of CN management. CN has contracts in place with four of the six unions. Besides the UTU and BLE contract, CN has yet to reach an accord with the union representing 240 rail traffic controllers. Dane
Old news, been a week or more since I first got wind of it. My Photos [ 28 November 2001: Message edited by: JPindar ]</p>
