Canada’s Via Rail, Union End Strike With Arbitration

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Bloomberg

By Rob Delaney

-- Via Rail Canada Inc., the nation’s passenger rail service, agreed with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference labor union to binding arbitration, ending a weekend strike.

The accord ends the disruption that began July 24, at the height of the vacation season. Service will resume today, Via said. The union representing 340 engineers stopped work to press demands for improved working conditions.

“The process proposed by the mediator will allow the parties to resolve outstanding issues and, most importantly, will get Canada’s passenger rail service up and running again for our customers,” Via Chief Executive Officer Paul Cote said today in a statement. Via, a government-owned corporation that operates Canada’s national passenger rail service, said full service will resume on most routes by tomorrow.

“The strike may have lasted for weeks or months,” Daniel J. Shewchuk, president of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, said today in a statement. The walkout showed “there was no possible agreement in the short term” without submitting the dispute to an arbitrator, who will impose a binding labor agreement, Shewchuk said.


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