One more time to the bargaining table for CN, Teamsters Rail Canada

Maybe it will be third time's the charm.

After members of the Teamsters' Canada Rail Conference  rejected the latest of agreements that CN and their union came up with, the two sides have returned to the bargaining table for one final time, a last, last ditch effort to cobble together a deal.

Over the weekend, the two sides announced that they would give it all one more try, with the understanding that a failure to come to an agreement will lead to a binding arbitration session to settle the outstanding issues.

The announcement of the return to discussions was posted to the CN Rail website, but not as of Sunday to that of the Teamsters Rail Conference.

Two previous agreements were rejected by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, the main concerns continue to reflect issues on contract language and hours of work.

Toronto Sun-- CN Rail, union resume negotiations to avert strike
Huffington Post-- CN Rail, Union to Give Talks One more chance

Labour rumblings could derail CN traffic to Prince Rupert

What was originally thought to be a slam-dunk acceptance of a contract proposal, has apparently gone a little sideways.

That as word comes out that members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference  have decided to reject a recently signed tentative deal, sending negotiators back to the discussion table to try and sort it all out.

As we outlined on the blog in November, CN and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference had reached a tentative three year deal, however as the ratification process moved ahead, union members began to express a number of concerns on negotiated issues.

When the final count came in, some 60 percent the union's members had rejected the deal, the main sticking point a level of mistrust between union members and CN and the need for assurances that rest provisions in the current agreement will be respected.

Logistical issues regarding crew relief have apparently escalated since the memorandum of agreement
had been reached, a situation that led to the union members holding back their ratification of the tentative deal.

CN and the Teamsters are looking at the ratification troubles and are considering how to address them.

While there is a possibility of a labour disruption, the two sides which will meet this afternoon with the goal of finding a solution to the latest concerns.

The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference is in a position to serve a 72 hour strike notice, though union representatives stressed that the preferred solution will come from further negotiations.

You can find more items of interest on CN operations in the Northwest on our archive page.

Reviews of the background on the current labour situation can be found below.

National Post-- CN to meet with union after yard and train workers reject deal
Globe and Mail-- Tentative contract for 3,000 CN Rail workers rejected
Progressive Railroading-- CN, TCRC to resume negotiations after tentative agreements aren't ratified
Yahoo Finance-- CN Rail to meet with union over stalled labour deal

Update:  The Teamster's Rail Conference Served Strike notice on CN on Wednesday, potential for strike action along the rail network could come as soon as Saturday.

Oil by Rail proposal rolls into view once again

The weekend provided for a flurry of media reports that the path of Alberta oil may one day make its way to Prince Rupert, as a CN discussion paper from March made a bit of news for the cycle on Sunday.

Word that the Chinese energy giant CNOOC, through it's Canadian purchase Nexen had been nudging Canadian National towards putting in motion an oil by rail option, made for much conversation on twitter yesterday, as the social media outlet fed the quest for more information on the subject of how the oil companies of North America will seek to get Alberta's oil to world ( or in this case mainly Asian) markets.

The first story on the percolating thoughts of an oil by rail transit first came through the Canadian Press, where Bruce Cheadle's article gained wide review both at the Financial Post and other Postmedia newspapers across the nation.

From that point, his work was picked up by the national forums of the CBC, Globe and Mail and many other media outlets, all offering up more reading material for a Sunday morning.

With the Financial Post headline suggesting that the volume of shipments by rail could match that of the proposed and controversial Northern Gateway pipeline, the prospect of an oil by rail delivery system would clearly be a major change for the CN rail corridor through Northern British Columbia.

The main thrust of the Sunday review by way of documents obtained by Greenpeace, accessed through the Freedom of Information Act, revealed that internal memos highlighted that discussions on the proposal took place last March with Natural Resources Canada.

CN for it's part responded to the Canadian Press with the statement that no specific crude-by-rail project to Prince Rupert was discussed at that time.

However, the door it seems is not closed to that possibility in the future.  With CN stating to the news service that it will continue to explore new opportunities "to move crude oil safely and efficiently to markets." 

Any oil by rail project is one that could be  in place fairly quickly considering that Canadian railways already have the ability and permission to move oil by rail, with no large scale review required to commence the shipment process, (building an export terminal may be another story though).

Perhaps something that wasn't given much thought of a year ago,  Oil by rail transportation however, is now something that is under the micro-scope following the Lac Megantic tragedy of earlier this year.

The re-emergence of the oil by rail prospects for Northern British Columbia comes as the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal has received a less than enthusiastic welcome across Northern BC.

For many, the new talk of the rail proposal has all the makings of a Plan B, should the pipeline proposal fail to move forward.

Faithful readers of our blog and attentive news fans of the Northwest will know that the oil by rail proposal is not something new to the Northwest.

CN first made mention of it some four years ago, the project prospectus seemingly something that is sitting on a shelf somewhere in an office at the railway. But at the moment, according to CN's recent comments to the Canadian Press, it is not one that is an active development mode.

Some of our most recent reviews of the possibility of oil by rail can be found below:

May 2013-- Oil by rail option continues to generate interest in Canada and overseas
March 2013-- The Oil by Rail Option, CN builds infrastructure for the future
February 2013-- The next battle over Bitumen?
November 2012-- Alaska to Alberta rail option could have an impact on Port of Prince Rupert

With the Chinese energy giant CNOCC investing much of its interest into Alberta oil, it would seem obvious that they want to find some way to make sure that the oil makes it to their destinations of choice.

Whether it be through Kitimat, Prince Rupert or some other potential export route, such as the recent presentation of a Northern BC route to Valdez, Alaska.

Interestingly enough, CNOCC, last week we outlined that CNOOC/Nexen is looking to put its footprint on the North Coast, perhaps through development, or shared development of an LNG terminal in the Grassy Point region.

Should they find success in that ambition, the added prospect of moving oil through Prince Rupert would in effect, make the North Coast port the energy export hub for the company's North American investments.

So far on the North coast, the main coverage of the re-emergence of oil by rail has come from the CBC Daybreak North program. With the Sunday story from CP the subject of some investigation both through the morning radio program and in social media through a variety of twitter feeds, where some of the background on the story has played out.

Considering the discussion that even the mention of a March conversation has had on the topic, we imagine that the oil by rail proposal will make for much in the way of news coverage over the months to come, whether through twitter or on the various news platforms of the province and the Northwest.

We'll offer up some of those contributions to the discussion below.

PG Citizen-- Eco group rails against oil plan
CBC BC Almanac-- Rail Transport of Bitumen (Podcast audio from 30 seconds to 23 minutes)
CFNR-- Coastal First Nations reject crude by rail
Sun TV News-- Oil will be shipped by rail if not pipelines: Natural Resources Minister
Vancouver Observer--  Gateway sized oil by rail project planned for Northern British Columbia, Greenpeace has learned
Vancouver Sun-- Alberta oil will reach the coast, like it or not
Vancouver Sun-- CN is considering shipping crude oil by rail from Alberta to B. C.: memo

Train keeps a comin'

I was born by the railroad tracks 
Well the train whistle wailed and i wailed right back
Steve Earle -- I Ain't Ever Satisfied (Copperhead Road1988)

As the number of trains rumbling across Northern British Columbia continues to grow, it would seem communities along the corridor are getting a little weary of the increasing frequency of those train whistles.

The subject has been the subject of debate in Prince Rupert for a few years now, the increased activity at the Port of Prince Rupert bringing with it a larger volume of trains shuttling in and out of the waterfront freight yard, the accompanying noise becoming yet another flash point issue for residents on that side of town.

The City of Prince Rupert has begun its exploration of the issue on the waterfront with a Whistle Cessation Resolution,  a first step in bringing the issue in Rupert to a more amenable situation.

Transport Canada may require safety measures such as flashing lights, bells, gates and signs, CN and the Prince Rupert Port Authority have committed the required resources to upgrade the subject crossings so that they can support the cessation of train whistling.


While the City of Prince Rupert is announcing its intention to pass a resolution as part of the process as outlined by Transport Canada, ultimately the City does not have jurisdiction over the two subject railway/road crossing.

The final statement suggesting that in the end, it will be up to the Port and CN to put forward the required measures to bring the whistles to an end, a process which is going to come with some expense,  how that expense may be split we haven't seen much guidance on as of yet.

Now it seems, the issue is spreading further along the railroad, with Terrace residents the latest to join in  on a call for a more audio friendly transit of their community.

A story in the Terrace Standard outlines the annoyance of the whistles there and provides an advisory that any kind of resolution to the troubles may be a ways off.

With the Port of Prince Rupert still with Container Port expansion plans on the books and further development of other shipment terminals in the planning stages, the prospect of less trains seems rather remote, the issue of the train whistles destined to be with us for the foreseeable future.


CFTK-- Terrace Train Noises Concern Council
CBC-- Prince Rupert residents want train whistles silenced