A national work stoppage by CP Rail’s unionized employees is affecting local operations, with 16 permanent staff members taking to the picket line.
“I don’t want to be sitting here, I want to be out there working,” Teamsters Local 308 representative John Blyth told Sudbury.com at the picket line near Brady Street’s intersection with Lorne Street earlier today.
“No one can afford to be off for any length of time.”
Employees have brought a number of causes to the bargaining table, he said, which include pensions, wages and opposition to a change in the way employee rest time is allotted.
As a result of work stoppage, which began at the start of Sunday, Vale operations in Levack and Glencore operations in Falconbridge are no longer being serviced. Local industries Esso, Mansour Mining Technologies and Fisher Wavy Inc. are experiencing limited service.
In a media release issued Sunday, CP Rail expressed disappointment with the job action, which is affecting operations across the country.
“The (Teamsters Canada Rail Conference) failed to respond to the company’s latest offer that was presented to them by the federal mediators,” CP president and CEO Keith Creel said in the release issued Sunday, adding that strike action was initiated prematurely. “The TCRC is well aware of the damage this reckless action will cause to the Canadian supply chain.”
In response to the job action by approximately 3,000 locomotive engineers, CP noted they are executing a “safe and structured shutdown” of train operations across Canada and will work with customers to wind down operations.
In the TCRC’s own media release, which CP Rail claims is inaccurate, the union blames the company for the work stoppage, or lockout, which they say was “initiated by company management during a labour dispute.”
Meanwhile, federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan has urged parties to find a resolution as quickly as possible.
This is the goal, Blyth told Sudbury.com at the picket line earlier today, adding that employees have many concerns they hope to see addressed in negotiations.
CP Rail has not been contributing their part to employee pensions, he said, adding that wages and efficiency testing that has become more of a penalizing tool than a point of education are also points of contention.
The most troubling part has to do with how rest times are allowed, which he said might result in employees being forced to take their mandatory reset breaks away from home rather than at their home terminals.
If they’re stuck away from home, Blyth said employees will be incentivized to book the minimum amount of rest required so they’re back on the train and therefore back home quicker.
“I don’t think the general public wants us out there driving trains in their neighbourhood on minimum amounts of rest,” he said. “I think it’s in everyone’s interests that we are properly rested to get to work.”
The rest rule component doesn’t affect local employees but does impact those who work on mainline trains across the country, he added.
At the latest update, the union and rail company were still in discussion with federal mediators, which joined the talks on March 11.
With files from The Canadian Press.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.