From Mary Kennedy at DTN Progressive Farmer, June 27:
Rail and port workers in the U.S. and Canada are in the midst of contract negotiations, and a failure to come to an agreement could be a disaster for West Coast ports and railroads. Currently, there are three major transportation-related groups in contract talks with one already declaring a strike.
On June 18, after rejecting the latest contract offer from Canadian National (CN), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) went on strike. The IBEW workers involved consist of approximately 750 signal and communication employees in Canada and walked off the job to fight for better wages and benefits.
CN announced in a news release on June 20 that normal rail operations would continue safely, as it had implemented its operational contingency plan. The plan allows the company to maintain a normal level of safe rail operations across Canada and serve its customers for as long as required if the strike continues.
CN Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Rob Reilly sent a letter to all employees represented by the Union to inform them of CN's latest offer. "We have been in negotiations with the Union since October 2021," Reilly said. "CN has approached this round of bargaining with the objective of improving wages, benefits and work rules, and ensuring the safety of our employees. We have met or exceeded every one of the Union's demands in an effort to reach an agreement prior to the strike deadline. Unfortunately, we did not reach an agreement and the Union has exercised its legal right to strike." Here is a link to that letter: https://www.cn.ca/en/news/2022/06/cn-maintains-normal-rail-operations-across-canada-as-ibew-strike/
CN said that it is disappointed with the current situation but remains committed to finding a resolution, and it continues to encourage the IBEW to end its strike through an agreement or through binding arbitration.
US RAILROAD WORKERS REJECT ARBITRATION AMID POOR RAIL SERVICE
U.S. rail worker unions recently said "no" to railroad contract proposals after three weeks of mediation following more than two years of "fruitless negotiations" with Class 1 railroads. Enter the National Mediation Board (NMB), who put forth a proffer of arbitration to move the dispute to the final steps of the Railway Labor Act.
As of June 16, the first deadline passed for unions to accept the proffer, and then, on June 18, the parties entered into a 30-day "cooling off" period where the status quo is maintained. This is the first of three 30-day windows aimed at finding an agreement....
....MUCH MORE
