The federal government has named its arbitrator to settle a new contract between Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) and its conductors, engineers, trainmen and yardmen.
Labour Minister Kellie Leitch on Monday appointed lawyer and professional mediator George Adams as the arbitrator and mediator for talks between CP and its 3,800 unionized running trades workers, represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC).
The unionized workers were on strike for one day before agreeing Feb. 16 to binding arbitration in their contract talks, under threat of back-to-work legislation Leitch was set to introduce that day in the House of Commons.
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“With (Adams’) vast experience in mediation and arbitration, I am confident that he will lead the parties through the final stage of negotiations and resolve any outstanding issues to reach a fair settlement,” Leitch said in a release Friday.
The TCRC-led running trades’ previous labour deal with CP was also reached through arbitration, following a two-week strike and back-to-work legislation in mid-2012.
In their latest ill-fated round of talks, the Teamsters have said the main issue between the union and company is “fatigue management,” and alleged CP sought “a dramatic increase in working hours out of each employee (and to) provide less rest hours.”
Adams, a former Ontario Superior Court judge and assistant provincial deputy labour minister, has run an alternative dispute resolution practice, Adams ADR, in Toronto since 1997.
“Without threat”
About 1,800 Teamsters-represented engineers at Canadian National Railway (CN) recently voted to ratify a three-year collective agreement with that company.
CN chief operating officer Jim Vena noted on April 16 that the Teamsters and CN bargained their deal, retroactive to Jan. 1, “without the threat of labour disruption.”
CN’s deal with the Teamsters was the last in its latest round of collective bargaining in Canada, he noted. — AGCanada.com Network
