CP Strike Update: railway seeks injunctions against pickets

VANCOUVER — Lawyers for CP Rail were back in court last night trying to get injunctions against striking workers at vital intermodal terminals.

After getting turned down by a B.C. judge on Friday, the railway returned to court with an affidavit, alleging that Teamsters Canada Rail Conference members were illegally intimidating truckers entering and leaving the Pitt Meadows yard in an attempt to cripple rail operations.

Despite injunctions limiting pickets, truck delays are still being
reported at most CP terminals (Teamsters Rail Union photo).

The union denies the charge, saying its workers are abiding by the law.

According to the Vancouver Sun, the affidavit states that CP could soon be unable to unload trains by the end of this week because the yard is too congested.

CP also filed for injunctions to limit protestors’ activities in Calgary and its Etobicoke, Ont. facility.

So far injunctions have been granted at yards in Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Vaughan, Ont., just north of Toronto. Though, there are still extensive delays at those locations being reported.

The strike, which includes 3,200 CPR employees, is now a week old. No new talks between the railway and the union are scheduled.

The railway, which dispatched about 1,300 managers to take over for the striking track builders and maintenance workers, says that for the time being the strike hasn’t derailed train schedules.

However, fleet owners and several independent truckers tell TodaysTrucking.com that the disruption is adding between four and six hours turnaround to a container run.

With those kinds of delays, says Frank Gentile of Titan Cartage in Toronto, it’s only a matter of time before shipments are severely hampered.

— with files from the Vancouver Sun


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