Canadian National

MONTREAL — CN has made a new offer to the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), hoping the effort will break the impasse and end a strike. CN said it has not seen substantive movement by the union to end the locomotive engineers’ strike that started Nov. 28, 2009. “Unfortunately, the union persists in raising the same issues the parties have negotiated for 14 months,” the railroad said in a statement. In a good faith effort to reach a settlement, CN is offering to: — Agree to binding arbitration on wage and benefit issues — Roll-back the 4,300-mile monthly cap for

MONTREAL –CN engineers in Canada started striking after negotiations between the railroad and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) ended Nov. 27 without an agreement on a new labor contract. Locomotive engineers will remain on the job in the following CN territories because of separate collective agreements: northern Alberta, parts of northern and eastern Ontario, northern Quebec, and parts of eastern Quebec and New Brunswick, the railroad previously said. On Nov. 23, CN notified the TCRC of its intention to implement only one work rule change to the collective agreements and increase wages by 1.5 percent effective Nov. 28. CN

MONTREAL — Negotiations between CN and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) ended this evening, Nov. 27, with no agreement on a new labour contract, the railroad said. CN and the TCRC had resumed negotiations earlier in the day with the assistance of federal mediators in an attempt to reach a settlement. CN now expects the TCRC to strike the company’s Canadian operations. CN said a TCRC strike is particularly unfortunate because CN has repeatedly offered, and the union has refused, to submit the contract disagreements to binding arbitration in order to avoid a labour disruption. In a news release,

MONTREAL — CN on Nov. 25 received a 72-hour strike notice from the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) of its plan to strike the company at 1 a.m. on Nov. 28. CN said the TCRC’s decision is unfortunate because a strike is in no one’s interest – not the locomotive engineers, CN’s other employees, its customers or the Canadian economy. CN is urging the TCRC to resume negotiations immediately to reach a settlement. If that is not possible, CN believes the union should agree to submit issues in dispute to binding arbitration before the Nov. 28 strike deadline. Such an

MONTREAL — CN gave the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) notice of its plan to increase wage rates and apply a change to the mileage caps for the company’s locomotive engineers the union represents in Canada on CN. CN is taking the step after collective bargaining with the TCRC ended Nov. 20 without a settlement, the railroad said. The contract changes are to take effect 0001 hours Nov. 28. The TCRC’s current labor agreement with CN expired Dec. 31, 2008. CN had informed the union over the weekend of its intention to increase the engineers’ wages by 1.5 percent and

CHICAGO — CN announced a voluntary mitigation agreement (VMA) related to its acquisition of the principal lines of the former Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company (EJ&E) with the Village of Lake Zurich, Ill., located 37 miles northwest of downtown Chicago. With this agreement, CN has VMAs with 20 municipalities that are home to two-thirds of the population living along the EJ&E in Illinois and Indiana. CN’s latest VMA will provide funding for a range of environmental measures, including rail noise mitigation, maintenance of an existing quiet zone, emergency response training, safety initiatives, and improved communication. CN completed its EJ&E