Author Topic: Labor unions silent on possible CP-NS combination  (Read 1311 times)

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Labor unions silent on possible CP-NS combination
« on: December 04, 2015, 07:12:34 PM »
CLEVELAND — Despite news that could dramatically change the North American railroad landscape, labor officials have been silent about the prospects of a combination of Canadian Pacific and Norfolk Southern railroads.

Trains News Wire reached out to officials with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the SMART Transportation Division, but both declined to comment on the proposed CP-NS merger, saying it was too early to weigh in.

CP has had a rocky relationship with labor in recent years. In 2012, 4,800 CP employees went on strike for nine days before the Canadian government forced the union members back to work. And earlier this year, more than 3,300 CP locomotive engineers and conductors took to the picket lines for two days before agreeing to end the strike and send the dispute into arbitration. Soon after the February strike, as negotiations dragged on, CP began training office workers to run trains should another work stoppage occur. Railroad officials promised that should another strike occur, they would be able to move 100 percent of the tonnage. But training office workers drew ire from union officials.

"Some of them are office workers, secretaries, data input, some of them are mechanics on the track, supervisors. Those workers from the office are career office workers, sometimes 25 or 30 years' experience, being scheduled for training to go ride trains and switch box cars in yards," Doug Finnson, president of Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, told CBC news back in May.

But should CP and NS come to terms on a merger, they will undoubtedly have to work with the unions to help get the deal approved by the Surface Transportation Board, the federal agency that regulates railroad acquisitions. According to the 2001 document “Major Rail Consolidation Procedures,” which is essentially the playbook for any future Class 1 railroad mergers, the STB is “required to provide a fair arrangement fro the protection of rail employees of (companies trying to merge) who are affected by the consolidation.” The report also notes that the STB would “look with extreme disfavor” on any merger or agreement that seeks to override any previously negotiated bargaining agreements.