CN reaches tentative pact with BMWE on former WC

Railway Track and Structures, June, 2004

CN has reached a tentative labor agreement with members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes who work on CN's former Wisconsin Central territory in the U.S. Upper Midwest. Details of the tentative agreement are being withheld pending contract ratification by approximately 470 BMWE members.

Also, 325 members of the United Transportation Union who work on the company's former Grand Trunk Western ratified a new labor contract. In contrast with traditional mileage- and rule-based wage systems dating back to the steam locomotive era, the new labor agreement stipulates hourly wages, job security and more flexible work rules for the UTU-represented brakemen and conductors. With this contract ratification, approximately 2,300 of CN's train and engine employees in the United States are now covered by hourly-rated agreements.

CN also reached a tentative collective agreement with the union representing approximately 200 of its Canada-based train dispatchers.

Details of the new three-year labor contract, which replaces one that expired Dec. 31, 2003, are being withheld pending agreement ratification by members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference/Rail Canada Traffic Controllers in Montreal, Toronto and Edmonton.