CN Rail, Union Seek Arbitration After Talks Fail
span style=”font-size:85%;”(Cargonews Asia)/spanbr /br /Canadian National Railway and the union representing 1,700 locomotive engineers will submit unresolved wage and benefits issues to binding arbitration after talks failed to yield a deal, Reuters reported.br /br /Canada’s largest railway resumed labour talks with the Teamsters union on December 3 after a brief strike. The company and union had agreed to put outstanding issues to binding arbitration if no agreement was reached.br /br /CN said talks ended on Saturday without a settlement. “The federal minister of labour will now appoint an arbitrator, who will have 90 days following his or her appointment to report to the minister with a final decision on a new collective agreement,” the company said in a statement. “Nothing precludes CN or the (union) from agreeing to further negotiations once the arbitration process starts.”br /br /The railway said no further strike action is permitted under the dispute resolution mechanism, nor can CN lock out the union.
Date: December 14, 2009
