IBEW members to strike CN Rail midnight Friday

[CliqueofOne]

This is it!

Signal Mechanic. Signal Department. Canadian National Railways.
Canadian, and proud of it.


Attention News and Business Editors:

IBEW members to strike CN Rail midnight Friday
MONTREAL, March 22 /CNW/ - "CN signal and communications workers will
stop working Friday midnight. The picket lines will go up. Another CN strike
is about to begin," says Kevin Kearns, IBEW General Chairman.
This evening the union gave corporation the required 72-hour notice.
IBEW members install, maintain and repair CN's signals and communications
systems including highway warning systems, fibre optic networks and the
centralized traffic control system. The union represents about 730 CN
employees across Canada.
"We are disappointed but we had no choice. There are a number of problems
including standby provisions, quality of life issues, wages and benefits,"
Kearns says. "But the real problem is trust."
He says CN did not honour an agreement contained in the last contract
which required the corporation to conduct a skills study.
"In full view of 730 IBEW members CN broke its word. It denied, evaded
and delayed. Four years later we have no skills study. The skills study is
very important to us. But making the corporation understand it can't just
break its word with no consequences is even more important," Kearns says.
Kearns says the skills study would identify the level of technical
expertise required of signal and communications employees and thus help the
union to make comparisons to workers in other sectors.
"We're underpaid compared to people doing similar jobs in other big
companies," Kearns says.
Kearns says the union expects the strike will have an immediate impact on
CN's bottom line.
"They are going to have to pay twice as much to get half the work done.
With CN operating at capacity any degradation of the system that leads to
deterioration of on-time rates is going to take money straight out of the
$18 million a day CN makes," Kearns says.




For further information: Kevin Kearns, General Chairman International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, System Council Number 11, [phone]
[:)]

[MP173]

Thanks Clique:

Guess it is time to sell my stock.

Good luck on your work stoppage. May your negotiations be fair and fruitful to all parties.

ed

[Anonymous]

See the thread already posted on the same subject below.

LC

[CliqueofOne]

First posting about this subject was made by me this morning at 04:14:36. That's really early this morning. Company is in dire need of SCABS that have something more of a clue on how the Signal System works. No retired Signal Supervisors from southern Ontario took the bate. That goes to show that the Signal Department at CN are a fairly tight bunch. That's something that Harrison can't comprehend. At least one railway contractor that I know of, was asked to SCAB. They told the company to stick it. They know whatever happens, Harrison isn't a God and he won't live forever. Eventually EHH will fade away and peace shall return to the Signal Department of CN. The contractors I'm with aren't that thrilled about some inexperienced SCAB directing them on the job-site. If something dangerous doesn't present itself because of the use of SCABS it'll be a miracle.

Our skills deserve more.
A proud Canadian.
Signal Mechanic. Signal Department. Canadian National Railways. Forever.

[CliqueofOne]

The Canadian government seems to be playing games. Where were they 2 weeks ago when they allowed us to go on strike? Useless government, controlled by Big Business. Foreign ones at that.

Signal Mechanic. Signal Department. Canadian National Railways.




Labour and Housing Minister Appoints Mediators in CN Dispute

OTTAWA, March 23 /CNW Telbec/ - The Honourable Joe Fontana, Minister of
Labour and Housing, today announced the appointment of two mediators from the
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to assist in negotiations aimed at
averting a work stoppage between CN Rail and the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers (IBEW).
"This is a critical opportunity for the parties to resolve the issues in
dispute with the assistance of experienced mediators. I am hopeful that with a
willingness to be flexible and much hard work, the parties will be able to
reach a settlement without a work stoppage," said Minister Fontana.
The union gave notice yesterday that it intends to take strike action at
midnight on March 25, 2005 if the parties are unable to reach a settlement.
Mediators Paul Macdonell and Réjean Bercier will be meeting with
representatives of the employer and the union later today.
The collective agreement between the parties, covering 730 employees who
install, maintain and repair CN's signals and communications systems, expired
on December 31, 2003.




For further information: Peter Graham, Director of Communications,
Office of the Minister of Labour and Housing, [phone]; Elizabeth
MacPherson, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, [phone]

[Junctionfan]

So basically what I read is that CN management doesn't really care is the signal and mechanical department workers don't know what they are doing or enough to keep up with any investments in technology upgrades. If that is the case, what are sorry bunch of screw-ups the managers are. Who uses that kind of intelligence (if you can call it that) to run a large transportation network? I understand the strategy do this make money, do this make money, do this and make money but where is the do this?