CN Rail and approximately 6,000 employees who are members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference have a new three-year collective agreement coming out of the labour dispute that saw both of Canada’s major railways shutdown in August 2024.
Arbitrator William Kaplan announced its decision on April 7 regarding the terms of the new deal for CN workers.
The arbitration process is still underway between CPKC and around 3,300 CPKC employees who are also members of the Teamsters union.
The new three-year deal for Teamsters who work for CN, which includes conductors, yard coordinators, and locomotive engineers, is effective from January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2026, and includes annual wage increases of three percent. It does not require ratification by the union.
“Although CN remains disappointed that a negotiated agreement was not reached at the bargaining table, the Company is pleased to be moving forward,” the railway said, in a statement.
A combination of lockouts and strikes by both railways and the union resulted in an unprecedented shutdown of the Canadian rail system on August 22, 2025. Both railways resumed operations four days later after the Canada Industrial Relations Board upheld an order from federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to impose final and binding arbitration.
