CN's Canada-based train dispatchers ratify two-year contract extension

MONTREAL, July 12, 2005 — CN and the union representing the railway's Canada-based rail traffic controllers (train dispatchers) announced today the ratification of a two-year contract extension by the union's members.

CN's three-year agreement with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference/Rail Canada Traffic Controllers (TCRC/RCTC), previously set to expire at the end of 2006, is now a five-year pact running through Dec. 31, 2008.

The contract extension will provide TCRC/RCTC members with improved wages and benefits effective Jan. 1, 2007. TCRC/RCTC members are based in Montreal, Toronto and Edmonton.

Jim Ruddick, RCTC general chair, said: “This contract extension provides our members with longer term stability and is in step with the five-year labour contracts ratified earlier this month by the Canada-based locomotive engineers represented by the TCRC at CN.”

Kim Madigan, CN's vice-president of labour relations, said: “CN believes five-year labour contracts allow management and labour to take a longer-term view of the enterprise. This bodes well for our railway business and the labour relations climate at CN.”