Talks to reach a new labour deal for Canadian Pacific Railway’s striking engineers and conductors are now "stalled."
The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), which represents about 4,800 of CP’s engineers, conductors, yardmen, trainspersons and rail traffic controllers, said Sunday that the federal Mediation and Conciliation Service is "no longer involved" in talks between CP and the union, as of 2 p.m. ET.
Federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt is scheduled to table back-to-work legislation Monday ending the unionized CP staff’s strike, which began early Wednesday.
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"There is no other meeting planned with CP for the moment," the Teamsters said Sunday. "In brief, the talks are stalled."
TCRC vice-president Doug Finnson said in the same release that CP has "negotiated in bad faith despite (Raitt’s) wishes" for a negotiated agreement.
CP, he said, "was hiding behind the federal government since the very beginning of the process."
"It appears that the strike will continue as long as the back-to-work legislation is not passed," the union said.
The legislation is "unavoidable," Finnson said, but "fatigue management issues will have to be addressed because it could have important consequences on the members."
"Fatigue management" has been among the contentious issues in contract talks to date, the Teamsters said, along with "the pension plan, which the employer wants to cut by 40 per cent."
Calgary-based CP has said it "requires changes to legacy pension and post-retirement benefits to make them industry-comparable."
