CP Strike Ends: Railway, Teamsters reach tentative deal

OTTAWA — About 3,200 striking CP maintenance workers should be back on the tracks in the next couple days after their union and the railway reached a tentative three-year agreement early this morning.

The deal effectively ends a three-week national strike, which began after talks broke off between the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference and the railway on May 15th.

The union reportedly was looking for a 13 percent wage increase over three years, while the company refused to offer more than 10 percent.

Workers are expected to head back to their positions by the end of the week.

Details of the proposed settlement will be released following ratification by union members, who will have the deal sent to them in the next few days.

After several weeks without any negotiations taking place, CP and the union agreed to meet with federal mediators in Ottawa on Monday.

Throughout the strike, CP had said train schedules were not affected and the labor disruption was nothing more than an “inconvenience” for container truckers heading in and out of intermodal yards.

Many trucking companies might have described the situation differently. Drayage fleets in the Toronto area told TodaysTrucking.com that wait times to drop off and pick up containers in the first week of the strike increased as much as six hours per run.

Wait times dropped somewhat after the railway won several court injunctions across the country to limit picketing and obstruction tactics, but carriers still reportedly lengthy delays at most yards.