Nearly 3,300 Canadian workers employed by the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) railway have new four-year contracts following arbitration.
Arbitrator William Kaplan's ruling, received by CPKC on May 30th, is the result of the labour dispute that saw both of Canada's major railways shutdown in August 2024.
The new contracts for members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) are effective from January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2027, and include annual wage increases of three per cent. The new collective agreements apply to approximately 3,200 locomotive engineers, conductors, train, and yard workers, and around 80 rail traffic controllers in Canada.
Kaplan announced a separate decision regarding CN Rail and its approximately 6,000 TCRC employees in early April. The CN agreement also included three percent wage increases, but was only for three years.
The arbitrated agreements — with CPKC and CN — do not require union ratification.
A series of lockouts and strikes by both railways and the union resulted in an unprecedented shutdown of the Canadian rail system on August 22, 2024. Both CPKC and CN resumed operations four days later when the Canada Industrial Relations Board upheld an order from then-federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to impose arbitration.
Nine of the last 10 rounds of collective bargaining between CPKC (previously CP Rail) and the TCRC have required government intervention. TCRC-related work stoppages have disrupted the railway's operations in 2012, 2015, 2018, 2022, and 2024.
Related: Arbitration yields three-year deal between CN Rail and Teamsters after 2024 rail shutdown
