Unionized conductors and engineers at Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) have voted down a proposed one-year renewal of their collective agreement.

The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, whose train and engine (T+E) unit represents about 3,050 Canadian conductors and engineers at CP, announced Wednesday its membership had voted 67.1 per cent against the extension.

Negotiators with CP and the Teamsters reached a tentative deal Sept. 6 on a memorandum of settlement, pending ratification, to renew their collective agreement for a year under the terms of their last contract, which is set to expire Dec. 31.

CP in September hailed the tentative deal as providing the affected staff with “a number of benefits and certainty over the next year, while protecting customers’ and future customers’ interests.”

“We look forward to working with the union membership to better understand this result and to discuss next steps,” CP CEO Keith Creel said in a release Thursday.

“While disappointed, I have been clear that we are focused on improving our relationship with our T+E employees and that commitment remains unchanged.”

CP noted Thursday it has had a “successful 2017 with its unions, negotiating a number of long-term agreements ahead of expiry.”

CP said it would meet with union leadership Thursday on next steps. Teamsters chairmen, in a memo Wednesday to local chairs, said they would provide “further updates on contract negotiations as they develop.”

CP’s previous contract talks with its conductors’ and engineers’ unit, in 2015, ended in a one-day strike followed by binding arbitration under threat of federal back-to-work legislation.

A two-week strike and back-to-work legislation followed the same unit’s contract talks with CP in 2012. — AGCanada.com Network