The Teamsters union is committed to ensuring no interruption in commuter train service despite the CP strike...
LAVAL, QC, May 19, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) which represents some 4,800 workers at Canadian Pacific has issued today a 72 hours strike notice that will take effect on May 23rd at 0:01.
Commuter trains in 3 Canadian cities (Vancouver WestCoast Express, Toronto Go Transit and in Montreal, AMT) may be interrupted despite the will of the union to maintain the service.
"We wrote to CP yesterday indicating that we would continue operating the commuter train service on all the lines without disruption," said Doug Finnson, Vice-President of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), who is representing CP's workers. "CP has written to us today indicating they will not operate Commuter Trains in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. We are sorry that our employer has so little consideration for travelling public."
On April 26, Teamsters announced that 95% of its members had voted to go on strike. The major issues are work rules, fatigue management, and the pension plan, which the employer wants to cut by 40%.
A number of crafts are affected, more specifically, conductors, yardmen, locomotive engineers and rail traffic controllers. Almost 4,800 could be on strike next Wednesday.
Freight rail will be disrupted by the work stoppage.
The Teamsters Union represents 125,000 members in Canada in all trades. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, with which Teamsters Canada is affiliated, has 1.4 million members in North America.
Stéphane Lacroix, Director of Communications, Teamsters Canada
Office: 450-682-5521 x236
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