CN railroaders get 3% wage increase per year in ruling after shutdown last summer

Locked out Canadian National railworkers stand at a picket line as locomotives are moved by management at CN Rail's Thornton Yard, in Surrey, B.C., Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

MONTREAL — Engineers and conductors at Canadian National Railway Co. will receive a wage hike of three per cent per year under a contract reached via binding arbitration Monday, capping off a labour standoff that halted freight trains across the country last summer.

Six days of hearings over the past month yielded a three-year contract for some 6,000 employees retroactive to Jan. 1, 2024, according to the decision by arbitrator William Kaplan.

“Although CN remains disappointed that a negotiated agreement was not reached at the bargaining table, the company is pleased to be moving forward,” the country’s largest railway said in a release.

Teamsters Canada Rail Conference president Paul Boucher said the contract “closely resembles the status quo.”

“The company failed to secure any concessions related to scheduling, rest or fatigue protections. Due to the complexity of these matters, the arbitrator emphasized that these issues are best addressed through free collective bargaining — something the Teamsters have been advocating all along,” Boucher said in a statement.

He called on the federal government to launch an industrial review of the rail industry to address “the root causes of labour unrest” and foster long-term stability.

The decision comes after a work stoppage at Canada’s two main railways that shut down freight and commuter traffic from coast to coast, a crisis that ended after the federal government issued a binding arbitration directive less than 17 hours after lockouts began on Aug. 21.

The move marked the first simultaneous railway shutdown in decades.

Arbitration between Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. and some 3,300 workers continues.

CN, in one of two proposals to the union, had suggested moving to a scheduled-shift mode, a drastic change from the mileage-based system of pay that has been in place for decades at both railroad companies.

The arrangement would make for more predictability for workers and managers, CN had said. But if an employee reached their destination hours ahead of time, it would also mean they could be assigned to other tasks rather than clocking out on arrival.

The second proposal, based on a more familiar pay model that included wage bumps, could have seen some CN workers relocated voluntarily and with a bigger stipend for up to 90 days at a time to where crews are in short supply.

The ruling Monday left both options to future negotiations.

Issues around employee rest and availability are “extremely important,” Kaplan said, but “best resolved in free collective bargaining with its associated gives and takes.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 7, 2025

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press