Mechanical workers at Canadian Pacific Kansas City vote for strike action

The union representing mechanics and labourers at Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. says 99 per cent of its members have voted in favour of strike action.

Unifor — which represents more than 1,200 mechanics, labourers, diesel service attendants and mechanical support staff at Calgary-based CPKC — says the vote authorizes the union to go on strike if a deal is not reached with the railway by 12:01 a.m. ET on Jan. 29.

Unifor Local 101R officially opened contract talks with the railway last October.

Among the top concerns raised by the union were high levels of contracting out, forced overtime and company policies that hurt work-life balance.

Negotiations with CPKC are set to resume in Calgary from Jan. 24 to Jan. 29. 

"This strike mandate shows the strength and determination of CPKC workers to achieve a fair deal," said Unifor's national president, Lana Payne. "Members are united in their demands for job security and work ownership, fair wages, and improved working conditions."

The railway, along with rival Canadian National Railway Co., grappled with a countrywide work stoppage in August that ground CPKC to a halt for four days, following a two-week operational wind-down.

That work stoppage began when CP and CN locked out 9,300 workers following months of talks that failed to produce new contracts. Ottawa ultimately stepped in, ordering the federal labour board to impose binding arbitration in an effort to avoid a total supply chain breakdown.

The union involved in that dispute was not Unifor. It was the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, which represents engineers, conductors, dispatchers and yard workers at CPKC.