CN Conductors Walk Off The Job; GO Not Affected So Far
As was widely expected some 2,800 Canadian National Rail workers walked off the job early Saturday, but transit officials are working to reassure GTA commuters they’ll still have a way into work on Monday morning.
The members of the United Transportation Union, including conductors and yard service workers, started to strike at 12:01am after negotiations with CN broke down in Montreal.
CN provides 100 conductors for six of GO Transit’s seven rail lines.
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GO outlined its strike contingency plan Friday and a deal it reached with its CN conductors that would keep its trains running. But an out-clause in that agreement is a cause for concern for some commuters. It states that the union has the right to pull those workers if it gives 72 hours notice.
About 165,000 people around the GTA rely on GO trains to get to work.
GO Chairman Peter Smith admitted Friday that the GTA transit system just doesn’t have the ability to make up for the lost train capacity should those conductors walk off the job, despite a planned partnership with Greyhound and other transit agencies to bus commuters to TTC subway stations.
The strike comes at a bad time for GO, which has been plagued by switch problems and delays for several months.
CN meanwhile is seeking to have the UTU strike declared illegal.
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“The company will be applying this morning to the Canada Industrial Relations Board for a declaration that the strike is illegal,” Mark Hallman, a CN spokesman, said Saturday.
Via Rail says it doesn’t anticipate the strike will affect its passenger train operations as all personnel are employees of Via Rail.
And CN says its freight operations will continue as normal with management stepping in to fill in for the striking workers.
GO Transit website – CN Conductors’ strike
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