VIA Rail union issues strike notice

ok im going to say sorry for offending anyone. my point is. in this economy with lay offs and foreclosure they should be thankful they were at least working and not laid off like the millions of other people out there right now. that's the way i see it. sorry if that's not the cause but in this economy and i was the via engineer i would be thankful that i at least had a job and could count on a paycheck to support my family.

Strike Over. Issues going to binding arbitration. Service to resume by Monday

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/s ... TopStories

Dick

Very pleased to learn of this development, Mr. Dick H; I'm certain Mr. Brennan and his US Brothers who have stepped forth with voices of support for the employee position in this dispute hold same.

Having been a Labor Relations Officer on a US Class I (I left end of 1981 to enter practice as a Chartered Accountant - CPA down here), I'm of course most interested in the issues that remain unresolved. I sincerely respect that Mr. Brennan took time, at a board populated by young railfans still developing their literary skills, to set forth the employee position. From his synopsis, it would appear that VIA Locomotive Engineers do have assigned runs; the issue appears that the men would like a little more time off AT HOME, as distinct from a hotel room that I presume up there also must meet standards of suitable lodging. But any hotel room, be it at the Dive Inn or the Four Seasons, has a way of getting old - fast.

The funny thing is that the media is reporting that VIA Engineers operate in unassigned service, such as (applicable terms down here) pool or "chain gang". Here is applicable brief passage to Canadian Business July 22 material that I have linked in an earlier posting:

"Some of the outstanding issues are linked to VIA's implementation of an antiquated crew utilization procedure designed for freight service which creates uncertainty as to when a locomotive engineer will be required for work'," said Shewchuk. He also acknowledged that wages and benefits remain a major concern but the requests are not outside of the norm in the industry.

Oh well, guess your media up there and ours down here have one thing in common - they get it wrong!

However, as I noted above, the carrier has not set forth publicly their position in this dispute; their only 'face' seems to be their PR gal (note I did not refer to her as 'Spin Lady") who has used her airtime (rightly I think) addressing passenger inconvenience issues.

But I do think that VIA Engineers in service anywhere outside the Quebec-Windsor Corridor must accept that VIA is a tri-weekly operation, and such will result in long layovers away from home. There is simply no way to avoid it, and it must further be accepted that operational efficiency, if even possible with tri-weekly frequency, results with establishing runs for as long as you can lawfully run. Sure, passenger service gives you predictability with your life, i.e. you know more or less when you are going to go, but it comes at the cost of the long layovers. Presumably any Engineer desiring to hire on (presume VIA recruits amongst Rules Qualified Engineers with CN) is aware of this unavoidable operating practice.

So good luck to both parties, come together and work for a resolution! Thanks for your review of my thoughts.

There's a Lot I Missed being out of town for 2 nights. hopefully be the happy medium for a while everyone needs to ease tensions with VIA Rail and the Union.. I'll comment later on some post made earlier, after I rest up.... until then here's another short story for those interested to read

http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2 ... 16-cp.html

VIA Rail..."GET BACK TO WORK!... PLEASE..."

EDIT: however while the strike was going on the media did have a few good video shots of TMC and VIA equipement , same Place I love to stand and take pictures from while In Toronto.
http://www.torontosun.com/news/2009/07/24/10254711.html

To everyone who offered their support during this short strike I'd like to say Thank-you. As everyone is aware by now the strike has been settled and the TCRC
and Via Rail Canada have reached a tentative agreement on wages and benefits and have agreed to go into Mediation/Arbitration regarding the remaining issues. The
arbitration is binding on both parties, so what ever Arbitrator Michel G. Picher rules will be final. The union and Via came to an agreement early this morning
around 1am after a long session of bargaining. Arbitration is scheduled for Aug 22-25 and there are about 8 issues that they have to settle, but as of now the trains
will start rolling this afternoon and by tomorrow things should be pretty well back to normal. Gilbert one of the issues was "Pool Chain Gang" service ie unassigned service.
Via Rail had implemented this out West and had plans to do the same in Toronto and other terminals. So the media got that one half right. There are other issues that
I wont go into but suffice to say the union is happy to see them settled through Arbitration even though a negotiated settlement would have been preferred. Thanks again!


Terry Brennan
Engineer TCRC Div 747
Toronto, ON

ramonesfan wrote: im sorry for my comments. i don't know how strikes works. im sorry if i offended anyone.

ramonesfan I accept your apology, these things tend to make passions run high. Everyone has there deeply held views and I respect that, that's one of the wonderful things about both our great nations that we all have the right to our opinions. All sides get hurt in these kind of things Company, Employees, and our passengers. No one ever wants to strike, it's not something that we took lightly. Many of us do have families and are aware of our responsibilities to them. I myself have 3 children aged 15, 12, and 10 and my wife is a stay at home Mom. Bills and mortgages have to be paid food has to be bought the responsibilities don't stop just because your on strike. Just as a side note these things can sometimes bring out the worst in people sometimes it brings out the best. Like the OTS employee that came to the picket line to offer her support even though she had just received a layoff notice. Or when my boys aged 15 and 12 felt it necessary to offer their father money they had earned from babysitting and grass cutting in the event that the "Family" needed it. Things like that just make your eyes swell up! During these tough economic times we all need to do our part Unions, Companies, Governments and individuals but there's no need to throw people under the bus. I am thankful that I have a job especially during this economic downturn, and unions do have to learn to deal with having less just as everyone does, but we can all still have respect for one another. People who belong to unions dont love their families any less then non-union workers. We are all trying to do our best for our families and our loved ones. I'm just happy that all is getting back to normal and I should be running along the Kingston Sub at 100mph tomorrow night.

Terry Brennan
Engineer TCRC Div 747
Toronto ON

ramonesfan wrote:it could be a long one. great via rail will end up going out of buiness cause of this strike. I say fire the strikers and hire non-union workers.

Now that the strike is settled this isn't terribly important, but it should be pointed out to the poster that in Canada there are labour laws that permit strikes. As long as a strike is legal, the employees who exercise their rights cannot be fired. I suppose an employer could do so anyway, but there is no doubt that a grievance would result in the restoration of those affected.

viahogger wrote:Gilbert, one of the issues was "Pool Chain Gang" service ie unassigned service. Via Rail had implemented this out West and had plans to do the same in Toronto and other terminals. So the media got that one half right. There are other issues that I wont go into but suffice to say the union is happy to see them settled through Arbitration even though a negotiated settlement would have been preferred. Thanks again!

Mr. Brennan, even though you note an arbitrator has been appointed, someone is going to think I'm trying to throw my hat in the ring!

Just some thoughts, if the carrier desires to run a multi frequency Corridor such as Montreal-Toronto unassigned "chain gang", that's one thing, so long as they will afford any affected employee two consecutive days of rest. Those rest days would be awarded on a seniority basis i.e. you want Sat and Sun? better have a few whiskers. You do not have any overnight trains in the Corridors, which means that no man will find his sleep rhythms all that affected; also, baring emergency, no man will be held away from home unreasonably. Something tells me that IF I were the neutral, and carrier wanted that prerogative, I just might let 'em have it. However, a compromise could be assigned outbound, return "first out" if rested under whatever your Hours of Service up there calls for.

Now as far as unassigned goes over the rest of your railroad where there is only tri-weekly service, it would appear that carrier wants the prerogative in the event of a late outbound train resulting in a misconnect (outright or improper rest; same difference) to hold you away from home while they deadhead a rested crew to handle "your" train and hold "you' for the next train two days later resulting in being next sent out without any rest at home.

I have two words for that - it sucks - and somehow i think any Locomotive Engineer, active or retired, class of service notwithstanding, having occasion to review this material would agree.

We may eventually find ourselves in that situation as "Pool Chain Gang" is still one of the unresolved issues that will be talked about
on Aug 22-25. I don't really see the benefit in the corridor where guys are on regular assignments and the remainder of the work is
covered by the spare board. Scheduled passenger railroading lends itself well to assigned service, not to say that chain gang couldn't work
also but for the employee it sure is nice knowing where you will be going over the next 6 months. We shall see soon enough.


Terry Brennan

Gilbert B Norman wrote:

viahogger wrote:Gilbert, one of the issues was "Pool Chain Gang" service ie unassigned service. Via Rail had implemented this out West and had plans to do the same in Toronto and other terminals. So the media got that one half right. There are other issues that I wont go into but suffice to say the union is happy to see them settled through Arbitration even though a negotiated settlement would have been preferred. Thanks again!

Mr. Brennan, even though you note an arbitrator has been appointed, someone is going to think I'm trying to throw my hat in the ring!

Just some thoughts, if the carrier desires to run a multi frequency Corridor such as Montreal-Toronto unassigned "chain gang", that's one thing, so long as they will afford any affected employee two consecutive days of rest. Those rest days would be awarded on a seniority basis i.e. you want Sat and Sun? better have a few whiskers. You do not have any overnight trains in the Corridors, which means that no man will find his sleep rhythms all that affected; also, baring emergency, no man will be held away from home unreasonably. Something tells me that IF I were the neutral, and carrier wanted that prerogative, I just might let 'em have it. However, a compromise could be assigned outbound, return "first out" if rested under whatever your Hours of Service up there calls for.

Now as far as unassigned goes over the rest of your railroad where there is only tri-weekly service, it would appear that carrier wants the prerogative in the event of a late outbound train resulting in a misconnect (outright or improper rest; same difference) to hold you away from home while they deadhead a rested crew to handle "your" train and hold "you' for the next train two days later resulting in being sent out without any rest at home.

I have two words for that - it sucks - and somehow i think any Locomotive Engineer, active or retired, class of service notwithstanding, having occasion to review this material would agree.

Mr. Brennan, thanks for affording me a chance to discuss labor issues in a mature and respectful manner with someone who "does this stuff for a living". Even if I was a carrier officer, I sincerely hope I have shown you and others reviewing this material that I endeavor to see both sides of an issue. I realize this discussion has been distorted a bit by young railfans lacking both maturity and writing skills yet holding anti-Labor points of view, but it has been a learning experience for me.

Now the matter is in the hands of an arbitrator (apparently a solo as distinct from a panel as is prevalent down here) ; all I can say to both sides is "good luck', as unfortunately during my time in Labor Relations, any Rules matters (as distinct from Discipline) nobody was ever completely happy with an arbitration ruling.

Finally, speaking of way out arbitrator's rulings, I direct anyone's attention to a book "Skygods: The Fall of Pan Am" ISBN 0-688-04615-0. Within this work, most specifically at page 203 et seq, is a narrative of a ruling (down here airline labor relations are also covered by the Railway Labor Act) regarding the merger of seniority rosters that simply in my view "takes the cake".

Gilbert B Norman wrote:Mr. Brennan, thanks for affording me a chance to discuss labor issues in a mature and respectful manner with someone who "does this stuff for a living". Even if I was a carrier officer, I sincerely hope I have shown you and others reviewing this material that I endeavor to see both sides of an issue. I realize this discussion has been distorted a bit by young railfans lacking both maturity and writing skills yet holding anti-Labor points of view, but it has been a learning experience for me.

Now the matter is in the hands of an arbitrator (apparently a solo as distinct from a panel as is prevalent down here) ; all I can say to both sides is "good luck', as unfortunately during my time in Labor Relations, any Rules matters (as distinct from Discipline) nobody was ever completely happy with an arbitration ruling.

Finally, speaking of way out arbitrator's rulings, I direct anyone's attention to a book "Skygods: The Fall of Pan Am" ISBN 0-688-04615-0. Within this work, most specifically at page 203 et seq, is a narrative of a ruling (down here airline labor relations are also covered by the Railway Labor Act) regarding the merger of seniority rosters that simply in my view "takes the cake".

Thanks Gilbert, I don't see the advantage in being disrespectful and rude when it comes to labor issues. I try to see both sides of the issue so as to understand where they are coming from and where we might be able to meet in the middle and compromise. All sides are trying their best when it comes to negotiating. The company is trying to make every dollar go further and striving for better productivity. This while being nickel and dimmed by the federal government (who itself wants every dollar to go further). Billions of dollars have been given to Via Rail but all of it for capital projects, not a dime of it for wages, fuel or operation of trains. So I do see how the company has their backs against the wall and have little room to maneuver in contract talks. I also see the unions issues, 2 1/2 years without a contract and with no resolution in sight. The union feels the squeeze from a company trying to get as much productivity as is can out of it's employees. So as can be seen everyone is in a difficult position, now is not the time to hurl insults and unrealistic demands on all sides. Nothing gives me more pleasure then to hear people talking calmly and realistically on both sides of the table. I've spoken with people in management and the union about various issues and it's nice when those conversations are civilized you tend to learn far more and take away much more from the experience.

I'm going to have to read that arbitrator's ruling. We had a similar situation with our seniority being amalgamated when the Conductors were eliminated on all passenger trains in Canada. Also some engineers from other terminals had their turn dovetailed with conductors and engineers form home terminals. To this day it is a very contentious issue amongst some engineers. Sounds like an interesting read.

Terry Brennan
Engr Div 747
Toronto ON

Mr. Brennan, I think a little "giggling" will take you to a retailer's site at which that book, Skygods, can be had on the cheap.

It is a narrative on just how lousy labor relations can get (and how out of touch with reality some of these arbitrators can be) - and so much of it was predicated by a company that simply had no corporate culture whatever in order to survive in a deregulated airline industry. Somehow, I think the government owned Air Canada ran flight operations more economically and efficiently - and enjoyed greater passenger acceptance in the process.