Canadian Pacific and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) are still negotiating over the terms of a new collective agreement, both sides said early Wednesday.
Should negotiations fail, TCRC members could go on strike following a 72-hour advanced strike notice to CP (NYSE: CP). The union confirmed it has not yet issued that notice that it would conduct a work stoppage.
Teamsters members voted earlier this month to conduct a work stoppage should negotiations between the union and CP fail to produce a new labor agreement. A strike could have occurred as early as midnight Wednesday if TCRC had issued a 72-hour advance notice beforehand.
CP, TCRC and federal mediators met throughout the weekend in the hope of achieving a negotiated settlement and averting a work stoppage, CP told FreightWaves, adding that those negotiations are continuing in Calgary.
The last four-year labor agreement expired Dec. 31. The union has said the main points of contention include wages, benefits and pensions, while CP says it has offered a two-year collective agreement that includes wage increases and agrees to 20 union demands on benefits and work rules.
A potential strike would affect more than 3,000 locomotive engineers, conductors, trainpersons and yardpersons working at CP.
Stakeholders on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border have been pressing CP and the Teamsters to avert a work stoppage, saying it could disrupt a supply chain still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
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