Greater Sudbury Teamsters join picket line after impasse with CP Rail

Members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) union in Greater Sudbury were on the picket line Monday morning after Canadian Pacific (CP) Railway shut down its operations on Sunday.

John Blythe, local chair of engineers for the union's Division 308, said CP locked them out on Sunday, but the company has denied those claims.

"To be clear, the TCRC took unilateral strike action," CP spokesperson Patrick Waldron told CBC News. "CP did not lock out its workers."

Blythe said the union is in talks with the company and is working to resolve 26 issues.

The biggest issues, he said, are their pensions and schedules for engineers and train conductors.

TCRC represents about 3,000 locomotive engineers, conductors, train and yard workers across Canada.

In Sudbury, the union's 16 members work in the train yard. 

While scheduling issues don't affect his members, Blythe said engineers and conductors run into issues where they are just home for eight to 10 hours before they have to return to work.

"You might get four or five hours of sleep and then be expected to go drive a train for the next six to 12 hours," he said.

Blythe said both parties are negotiating in good faith, and added he was hopeful the issues could be resolved quickly.

"No one has stepped away from the negotiations right now," he said. "I know locally, and across the board, from what we've heard from other members, there is hope that it can be (resolved)."

Federal Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan said on Twitter that Canadians are counting on a quick resolution to the impasse between both parties.

The last time TCRC members went on strike, in 2018, they were able to arrive at a deal with CP within the first 24 hours, Blythe said.

A number of industry groups and experts have already raised concerns about the impact a prolonged shutdown of CP rail services could have on supply chains, which have already been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We always have a significant percentage of fertilizer that moves on to farms in the spring season, and so [the strike] will create a logistical nightmare," Tom Steve, general manager of the Alberta Wheat and Barley Commissions, told CBC News.