Canadian Pacific (CP) Railway track and bridge maintenance employees began their labour action as of 12:01am Wednesday. About 1,200 of CP Rail's 3,200 unionized employees are affected.

Picket lines began going up across the country Wednesday morning, and Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union leader William Brehl said it's up to the company whether the eventual contract agreement comes easily or not. "We're willing to talk to the company if they're willing to talk to us productively, but they've basically said to us, 'No, we're deadlocked. We're not going back to the table,"' Brehl said.

Wages are one of the key issues - the Teamsters want to see a 13 per cent increase over three years, while the company says that's not in keeping with what other unions at the rail company have received, namely 10 per cent over three years. Talks broke off on Saturday and the union subsequently gave its strike notice.

CP spokesperson Mark Seland said managers will fill in to replace the striking workers and said he hoped it wouldn't affect the business. "We expect our railway to run normally," he maintained.

In February, Canadian National Railway employees went on a two-week strike - a walkout that resulted in the disruption of $1 billion in shipments of grain, auto parts and other commodities. That strike's effects were felt in this province, as it led to a gas shortage at the pumps following a major fire at the Imperial Oil Nanticoke refinery. A federally appointed mediator is reviewing both offers in that conflict and will select one to be the binding agreement by July.

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CP Rail workers walk off the job

Reuters: May 16, 2007

CALGARY, Alberta - About 3,200 track workers at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. began a national strike over the failure of talks on wages and work-rule issues on Wednesday in the third job action in Canada's rail sector this year.

"It's begun right across the country," said Jeremy Spikula, a union director at Teamsters Canada.

The employees -- represented by the Rail Conference Maintenance of Way Employees Division of Teamsters Canada -- build and maintain tracks, bridges, structures and machinery at CP Rail, the country's second-largest railroad.

CP Rail said it has trained more than 1,300 managers to replace the roughly 1,200 unionized workers who directly maintain track. Any expansion projects are being deferred.

Spikula said the union believes CP cannot not run its rail network safely with management personnel doing the job of unionized track workers.

Railway spokesman Mark Seland said the company's track inspectors are managers, therefore not union members, and that the replacement workers are taking direction from the inspectors as they put tracks back into service.

"It's pretty much operating, with different employees, the same as it would on any other day," Seland said.

The union has said it wants wage hikes beyond the 3 percent that other unions at the railway have agreed on because its members' pay has lagged that of their counterparts.

CP Rail Chief Executive Fred Green said last week the company could agree to bigger wage increases, but only if the union makes work-rule concessions to generate savings in other areas.

A 15-day strike in February by 2,800 conductors at Canadian National Railway Co.

Last month, CN lifted its lockout of some workers after lawmakers in Ottawa ordered an end to that dispute.

The Canadian government said on Tuesday it would intervene in the CP Rail strike if it caused serious economic damage.

The railway is not looking to the government for back-to-work legislation, Seland said. "We'd prefer a negotiated settlement between the two parties," he said.

No new talks are scheduled, however.

The Canadian Wheat Board, one of the world's biggest grain marketers, said this week it is concerned the dispute could hurt its busy shipping schedule. The CWB needs to ship up to 1,200 cars per week on CP lines to the Pacific port of Vancouver, British Columbia, and 1,100 to the Great lakes port of Thunder Bay, Ontario, through July 31.

Seland said the railroad had not fielded calls from anxious customers. "So far, they're understanding our plan and accepting how we're going to operate," he said.

CP Rail has indicated the strike will not affect other unionized employees in Canada or the United States.

The company's shares were up C$1.39, or nearly 2 percent, at C$75.31 on the Toronto Stock Exchange