Unifor looking to conclude negotiations with CN on a new agreement for our Unifor Council 4000 / Local 4001 membership at CN Savage Alberta Railway
June 10, 2014
Scroll down to bottom of page for the update posted on June 13
Unifor hopes to negotiate a settlement on a new collective agreement for our 56 members at CN Savage Alberta Railway employed as Locomotive Engineers, Conductors and Assistant Conductors at Grande Cache and Grande Prairie, Alberta.
Unfortunately, bargaining on a new collective agreement has been at a standstill since last year because of the ongoing issue concerning CN’s plan to amend terms of the CN Pension Plan by denying indexation benefits to Short Service Employees – employees with less than two years’ service under the CN Pension Plan (a “Short Service Employee”).
On April 1, 2011, the federal government announced changes to the Pension and Benefits Standards Act (PBSA) that now provides for immediate vesting upon an employee’s enrollment into a pension plan. Previously, vesting occurred only after two years of membership to a pension plan. CN met with the various labour representatives that sit on the CN Pension Committee, which includes Unifor Council 4000 President Barry Kennedy, expressing their concerns that employees with less than two years’ service who quit or are discharged from the Company costs the pension plan 5 to 6 million dollars per calendar year based on the cash out value of employees with less than 2 years of service who terminate, based on the recent changes to the PBSA.
Consequently, CN looked for consensus amongst the pension committee to amend the terms of the CN Pension Plan to provide vesting for Short Service Employees until after two years’ of service with CN, the way it was prior to the federal government’s changes to the PBSA. The Union representatives from Unifor, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) and the United Steel Workers (USW) who sit on the CN Pension Committee acknowledged the Company’s concerns, but suggested this change be applicable only to employees with less than two years’ service who voluntarily resign, and not those that have been discharged.
What does this issue have to do with a delay in reaching a new deal for our members at CN SAR?
Our number one demand at the bargaining table this round of negotiations was to have our CN SAR membership become members of the CN Pension Plan, a Defined Benefit (DB) pension plan. They are presently members of the CN Defined Contribution (DC) Pension Plan that we negotiated during our last round of negotiations with CN. The Company has not been prepared to discuss our key demand until the Short Service Employee issue is resolved.
Notwithstanding that the majority of members on the CN Pension Committee (the non-Union members) supported the Company’s proposed change during a conference call held in January, and that the Company’s Board of Directors subsequently approved the change, it has yet to be administered and no official announcement has been made by the Company.
Following several months of waiting to see where this issue would take us, we feel at this time that it be best we carry on with bargaining, parking our DB pension demand for this round, and focus on the remainder of our agenda and securing a new agreement that will provide members with retroactive wage increases and benefit improvements. We will look to negotiate a short contract that will take us to the end of 2014 at which time we will reopen discussions on the CN Pension Plan during the next contract, in conjunction with bargaining for the other Unifor collective agreements at CN for Agreement 5.1, 5.1 Supplemental, 5.4 and Local 100’s Agreement 12. That bargaining will commence later this fall.
The Unifor Bargaining Committee is comprised of Unifor Council 4000 President Barry Kennedy, Regional Representative Ron Shore, Unit Local Chairperson Dave Judge and National Representative Bob Fitzgerald. They will be meeting with CN on Wednesday and Thursday, June 11 and 12 in Edmonton.
UPDATE: June 13, 2014
Unifor met with CN on June 11 and 12, 2014 in Edmonton in hopes of attaining a settlement on a new collective agreement for our 56 members at CN Savage Alberta Railway who work as Locomotive Engineers, Conductors and Assistant Conductors for the Company's operations in northwestern Alberta.
Talks on Wednesday were at times frustrating and we ended the day informing CN that we may consider filing for conciliation and prepare ourselves to take a strike vote. The Company representatives came back on Thursday morning advising that they were awaiting a conference call with senior executives to discuss our member's top priority for this round of bargaining, that being membership in the CN DB Pension Plan.
We postponed negotiations at 15:00 MDT June 12. The Company is considering our position and we hope to reconvene talks the week of June 23rd in Winnipeg. No doubt that our bargaining committee will have difficult decisions to make in the days ahead in reaching a fair and proper settlement on the behalf of our membership.
We will continue to update our membership once new information is available to share.
Unifor hopes to negotiate a settlement on a new collective agreement for our 56 members at CN Savage Alberta Railway employed as Locomotive Engineers, Conductors and Assistant Conductors at Grande Cache and Grande Prairie, Alberta.
Unfortunately, bargaining on a new collective agreement has been at a standstill since last year because of the ongoing issue concerning CN’s plan to amend terms of the CN Pension Plan by denying indexation benefits to Short Service Employees – employees with less than two years’ service under the CN Pension Plan (a “Short Service Employee”).
On April 1, 2011, the federal government announced changes to the Pension and Benefits Standards Act (PBSA) that now provides for immediate vesting upon an employee’s enrollment into a pension plan. Previously, vesting occurred only after two years of membership to a pension plan. CN met with the various labour representatives that sit on the CN Pension Committee, which includes Unifor Council 4000 President Barry Kennedy, expressing their concerns that employees with less than two years’ service who quit or are discharged from the Company costs the pension plan 5 to 6 million dollars per calendar year based on the cash out value of employees with less than 2 years of service who terminate, based on the recent changes to the PBSA.
Consequently, CN looked for consensus amongst the pension committee to amend the terms of the CN Pension Plan to provide vesting for Short Service Employees until after two years’ of service with CN, the way it was prior to the federal government’s changes to the PBSA. The Union representatives from Unifor, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) and the United Steel Workers (USW) who sit on the CN Pension Committee acknowledged the Company’s concerns, but suggested this change be applicable only to employees with less than two years’ service who voluntarily resign, and not those that have been discharged.
What does this issue have to do with a delay in reaching a new deal for our members at CN SAR?
Our number one demand at the bargaining table this round of negotiations was to have our CN SAR membership become members of the CN Pension Plan, a Defined Benefit (DB) pension plan. They are presently members of the CN Defined Contribution (DC) Pension Plan that we negotiated during our last round of negotiations with CN. The Company has not been prepared to discuss our key demand until the Short Service Employee issue is resolved.
Notwithstanding that the majority of members on the CN Pension Committee (the non-Union members) supported the Company’s proposed change during a conference call held in January, and that the Company’s Board of Directors subsequently approved the change, it has yet to be administered and no official announcement has been made by the Company.
Following several months of waiting to see where this issue would take us, we feel at this time that it be best we carry on with bargaining, parking our DB pension demand for this round, and focus on the remainder of our agenda and securing a new agreement that will provide members with retroactive wage increases and benefit improvements. We will look to negotiate a short contract that will take us to the end of 2014 at which time we will reopen discussions on the CN Pension Plan during the next contract, in conjunction with bargaining for the other Unifor collective agreements at CN for Agreement 5.1, 5.1 Supplemental, 5.4 and Local 100’s Agreement 12. That bargaining will commence later this fall.
The Unifor Bargaining Committee is comprised of Unifor Council 4000 President Barry Kennedy, Regional Representative Ron Shore, Unit Local Chairperson Dave Judge and National Representative Bob Fitzgerald. They will be meeting with CN on Wednesday and Thursday, June 11 and 12 in Edmonton.
UPDATE: June 13, 2014
Unifor met with CN on June 11 and 12, 2014 in Edmonton in hopes of attaining a settlement on a new collective agreement for our 56 members at CN Savage Alberta Railway who work as Locomotive Engineers, Conductors and Assistant Conductors for the Company's operations in northwestern Alberta.
Talks on Wednesday were at times frustrating and we ended the day informing CN that we may consider filing for conciliation and prepare ourselves to take a strike vote. The Company representatives came back on Thursday morning advising that they were awaiting a conference call with senior executives to discuss our member's top priority for this round of bargaining, that being membership in the CN DB Pension Plan.
We postponed negotiations at 15:00 MDT June 12. The Company is considering our position and we hope to reconvene talks the week of June 23rd in Winnipeg. No doubt that our bargaining committee will have difficult decisions to make in the days ahead in reaching a fair and proper settlement on the behalf of our membership.
We will continue to update our membership once new information is available to share.
