CP strike making only slight dent in operations: reports

TORONTO — Intermodal truckers experienced some delays at various CP Rail facilities on the second full day of strike action, but overall the railway and most shippers aren’t reporting any major disruptions as of yet.

Speaking to the Globe & Mail, CPR spokesman Mark Seland downplayed picketing by 1,300 inspectors and maintenance workers across the nation. So far, the two-day labor disruption has been “a mild irritation” to truckers picking up or transferring containers at Vancouver, Montreal and north Toronto intermodal terminals, he says, but the strike is not yet affecting train service.

CP deployed about 1,300 trained managers and other employees to maintain track service duties during the strike.

Major CP customers are also not reporting any delays today. According to Canadian Press, shippers along southern Ontario’s manufacturing-dense Hwy. 401 corridor said they weren’t feeling the impact of the strike.

CAW executive Bob Chernecki told CP that he hasn’t heard of any trouble with autoparts getting to plants in the region. “I am sure down the road it will (have an affect), but not right now.”

However, William Brehl, president of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, warned that the worst was yet to come. He says it won’t be long before the economy is affected if CP doesn’t negotiate an acceptable collective agreement.

No new talks are scheduled, however.

The union has been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2006. It is demanding a 13 percent wage increase over three years, while the railway’s final offer is 10 percent hike over the same period.

— with files from the Globe & Mail; and Canadian Press