Canadian National Railway Company (CNI, CNR.TO) said that the contract discussions between it and its locomotive engineers in Canada broke off on Friday, setting the stage for a strike.
CN and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference or TCRC had resumed negotiations with the assistance of federal mediators in an attempt to reach a settlement. CN said it now expects the TCRC to strike the company's Canadian operations.
CN said TCRC strike is particularly unfortunate because CN has repeatedly offered, and the union has refused, to submit the contract disagreements to binding arbitration to avoid labour disruption.
CN said it will implement its labour contingency plan, under which qualified management personnel will work as locomotive engineers. CN is committed to provide the best possible service to its customers in the circumstances and will do so until it can reach a new agreement with the TCRC.
Locomotive engineers will remain on the job in the following CN territories because of separate collective agreements: northern Alberta, parts of northern and eastern Ontario, northern Quebec, and parts of eastern Quebec and New Brunswick.
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