Negotiation Bulletin 11

May 16th 2018 - Brothers & Sisters, On Monday May 14th we were to begin our voting on CP’s Final Offer as directed by the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, the Right Honourable Patty Hajdu. As you are all aware by now, there was a mistake made with the issuance of your PIN’s for this vote which were generated by Intelivote, the Company contracted by the CIRB to conduct the vote. As a result of the errors, the vote has been postponed until new PIN’s are issued. The new vote will be conducted starting May 18, 2018 09:00 EDT and will be completed by 1200 EDT on May 25, 2018. This was an unfortunate event but will not change our resolve to see this offer voted down. 

CP continues to bargain with themselves

Also, on May 14th, CP Rail couriered to each of you a package encouraging you to vote for the offer and it contained their latest in a long list of changes to their questions and answers and had new interpretations of what they say is their offer. This strange turn of events simply shows how difficult it has been to try to negotiate with this group. CP Rail never tried to negotiate many of the items in the offer with our bargaining committee. Given the numerous “clarifications” put out by CP Rail, it appears they continue to bargain with themselves.

Regardless of what CP is saying, you are not voting on the clarifications they are putting forward, you are voting on the Final Offer as written and ordered by the Minister.

The fact that the Company needs to try and clarify their final offer is proof enough that it cannot be accepted. We urge all of you to vote and vote NO.

Once this proposal is defeated, CP Rail should return to the bargaining table and negotiate with the Union in the proper manner, with our negotiating committee.

Our negotiating committee will be prepared and ready to negotiate with CP Rail as soon as the results of the vote are known. We intend to negotiate an agreement that says what it means and ensures the terms can be understood by all. Should this not be possible, we will continue to put the pressure on up to the point of going on strike if required.

Again, we encourage everyone to vote and to vote NO.

In Solidarity,

Dave Fulton
General Chairman - CTY West

Greg Edwards
General Chairman - LE West

Wayne Apsey 
General Chairman - CTY East 
 
John Campbell 
General Chairman - LE East

cc:

Mr. Doug Finnson, President TCRC 
Mr. Rolly Hackl, Vice President TCRC