Brothers and Sisters,

I am pleased to bring you a positive first quarter report. 

Before we get into the report, I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to read this letter and for the involvement we have had as a membership, we have been striving to increase communication with and between members and the results are noticeable, there has been an active online connection, I constantly see helpful advice being shared as well as playful banter and it is fantastic to see how well we can support one another. We are stronger together, always have been and always will be.

Starting in January we began with our annual contracting out meetings with the company. I as well as Local chairs from the districts had two separate meetings. One meeting for Manitoba and NW Ontario, as well as a meeting for Saskatchewan. I Feel like the meetings were overall very positive, the Company has committed to insourcing as much work as possible. There are some specialty projects that they have planned involving complex types of track stabilization in Manitoba as well as some structures repairs that we simply are not able to do but for the most part we should be able to keep a lot of the work in house. I am pleased to announce it appears we may be able to eliminate some of the contractors that have been on the ballast gang in Sk. over the last few years, through some intelligent planning by President Wade Phillips we are able to make a case to the Company to bring over some tampers from other regions to eliminate the need for contractors, we may not be rid of all of them just yet but we are heading in the right direction. Each contractor off the property is one more job for one of our Brothers or Sisters.

We have also begun monthly grievance resolve meetings. The first meetings began in February and so far, I have participated in four meetings, NW Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, as well as a meeting for Work Equipment. Grievances that have been in the system for years are getting their chance to be heard and the company is forced to revisit them which has proven to be beneficial. We have been able to get the Company to change their prospective on several grievances pertaining to seniority issues as well as several contracting out issues, of course there are some that the Company has been more stubborn on, which is to be expected.

One of the largest areas of concern member have involves the length of time it has been taking to get resolves to their grievances, the message has been received at the executive board and we are working hard at getting these outstanding issues addressed.

Currently the company is not willing to discuss major discipline such as suspension at the monthly meetings but are having quarterly meetings with Wade and upper management to address these issues. 

The summer work season is near which means we will be doing crew roll outs throughout the region, the first of which began on March 2^nd in Saskatchewan with the Thermite crew. Start up meetings will be taking places weekly until all crews are running. As of writing this I have attended three start up meetings with another planned for this week. So far the meetings have been very positive and it has been fantastic getting the opportunity to meeting with the different crews. I will be attending as many meetings as possible. I look forward to seeing everyone both at the start up meetings as well as during the season on the crews. 

I plan to be visible to both the members as well as the Company. We are taking a more aggressive approach to representation and part of that will be through regular visits to the crews.

Ron Bradley – Director Prairie Region

Teamsters Canada Rail Conference

Maintenance of Way Employees Division

Cellular 1-204-485-8555

Facsimile 1-204-809-4703

Toll Free 1-800-567-0571

February 3, 2021

Brothers and Sisters,

I wanted to take a moment and give you some updates on what has taken place over the last month, since the newly elected members of your executive board have taken over in their roles.

At Canadian Pacific, there have been a number of new initiatives that we are excited about. Excited because our members will have their grievances heard, first through a monthly grievance resolve meeting with Directors and CP Directors and Assistant Chiefs, and if unable to resolve at that level, there are quarterly grievance resolve meetings with the President/Vice President, with Chief Engineers and the Vice President of Engineering at CP. These resolve meetings open the door for many grievances to be resolved.

We have also entered into a mediation/arbitration process that will be done twice annually in the East and West. We currently have dates booked in the East for the end of April and in the West for Mid May. These meetings will take place over two days in each area and will give us the opportunity to have in the hundreds of grievances heard by an arbitrator this year alone. This med/arb process will not cover larger grievances involving dismissal or large scale contracting out, as they are done in an expedited fashion and the rulings are not with prejudice or precedent, meaning that we cannot use them down the road in other cases. This limits the type of grievance that can be heard but we have enough to keep us busy for the foreseeable future.

Larger grievances, which are typically dealt with at the Canadian Railway Office of Arbitration will continue to do so. We are working with our Labour partners along with Companies that form the CROA committee to fix the issues that we currently have with this system, whereby it has been difficult to keep arbitrators willing to be involved in this process. Currently we are working with the federal mediation services to find solutions to ensure that CROA remains the important institution it is to our members and organisations alike. There are currently only 3 of the upcoming twelve months that have arbitrators booked for them and this is backing up the process but we are looking at any measure possible to get these cases in front of an arbitrator.

Contracting Out meetings have taken place across the county and I was able to attend all of them remotely with the Region Director. We have a number of takeaways from these meetings but we were able to convey a consistent message across the country. The message was that if you are not looking for ways for our members to be in the seat of a machine, doing the jobs that we have always done and equipping and training our members to do these jobs, you are not living up to the commitment made in the collective agreement. I expect that over the next few months, there will be some pinpointed challenges of contracting out that will be made across the country, based on the information we received through these meetings. I want to take an opportunity to thank the local chairmen and leaders that were able to attend these meetings and give their input for contracting out in their areas. These local leaders were able to give specific examples that were helpful in all of the arguments that we were making.

For the first time ever, we engaged our membership in a survey and to date, we have had 560 responses that will give us guidance in how you, the members want to see us move forward. We appreciate everyone who has taken time to fill this out and this newsletter is in response to one of the consistent messages that we received, that we need to communicate what is going on better! Also in the works are changes to our website that will make it easier to contact us for issues such as reporting contractors and other things as easy as being able to change your address or apply for a withdrawal card if laid off. With work, our website will become more of a communication tool than we have ever used it for before.

We will continue to engage the membership at every turn possible and the information that this survey has provided will guide us going forward. We will make effort to put out an update on the state of affairs that are important to our members as often as possible and the Regional Directors will be involved in giving these updates for their region in the future as well as reporting when grievance resolve meetings start rolling.

As a closing remark on this update, we are entering into the season for initial gang bulletins and given the issues with bid/awards that need to be fixed, keep your Director up to date on any lapses in communication from this department as these initial awards being correct are what we base our next year on, whether we are close to home, whether we are working at our preferred position and whether we gain seniority at the time that we should. We as a local will allocate resources into making sure that these are correct and that issues are dealt with in a timely manner.

Be good to each other, we remain strong because we are united. We will only become stronger when the entire membership understands that it is their solidarity that gives us as an executive board the tools necessary to remedy the problems that we face every day.

In Solidarity,

Wade Phillips
President

As we welcome a new year in 2021, your new Executive Board has been sworn in and is working to represent your interests at whichever company you may work for. 

2020 was a challenging year for all, with terms that were used such as “new normal” and “abundance of caution” that became part of our vocabularies as our members worked through an unprecedented pandemic. This pandemic has seen health concerns for members, some touched by Covid-19 personally and dramatically. It has raised our collective awareness of the need for strong health and safety measures to be in place and has brought forward continuous dialogues with the companies that we represent members at on ensuring a safe and healthy working environment, particularly as our members face travel and working during the pandemic. 

We are fortunate in most areas that work has gone on and our members paychecks have not been impacted by the pandemic, however we have seen shorter seasons and cutbacks as a result in certain areas. We will continue to work for our members that have been affected until they are all back to work.  

2020 was an exciting year as we welcomed new members from Alstom Transport into our group and we are working on getting them a strong Teamsters contract that provides them fairness and stability in their workplace. These members should be applauded for their solidarity that they have already shown, and we welcome them and look forward to a bright future with them in our membership.

Over the last year, there have been new bargaining agreements signed with several of our short lines, including Ontario Northland, Hudson Bay Railway, Algoma Central Railway to name a few. In the upcoming year, we will be going into bargaining with several roads and will be focusing on strengthening the agreements that we have there for our members.

Your new Executive Board is now made up with the following people. The contacts page on this website has been updated with each Board member’s contact information. 

Wade Phillips – President
Gary Doherty – Vice President
Anthony Della Porta – Secretary Treasurer
Atlantic Region Director – Patrick Gauthier
Eastern Region Director – Maclean Foster
Prairie Region Director – Ron Bradley
Pacific Region Director – Trevor Marshall

We look forward to the many challenges ahead and wish only for the health and prosperity of our members, their workplaces, their families and the communities in which they live. 

Keep your eye on the site, we will be updating with regularity as issues arise. 

In Solidarity, 

Wade Phillips
President
TCRC MWED

Brothers and Sisters,

The Covid 19 pandemic has ultimately had a significant effect on the regular business of our Union, our membership and the rest of society in general. We have worked diligently through this pandemic to ensure the Health and Safety of our members across the country and hold companies accountable for your safety every day.

Earlier this year, we were forced to cancel the 4^th Regular convention of the TCRC MWED, which had been scheduled to take place June 10 and 11. In attempting to ensure the Health and Safety of the delegates that have been elected by the local lodges and in an effort to follow all guidelines from federal and provincial authorities, we have made a decision that a convention cannot be held this year. Generally speaking, our convention is where the executive board elections begin to take place, with nominations by the delegates of the lodges present to nominate and second for the executive board positions as well as vote on changes to the by laws that govern how our Union is run.

Although we will not be able to go ahead with convention, democracy must carry on. A plan has been developed by your Executive board, which has been approved by International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President, James P Hoffa, to go ahead with the election of officers via a mail-in ballot by delegates for nominations of positions and thereby keep the democracy of our Union intact.

It is not our preference to have to do the regular business of the convention, namely the election portion of the convention in this manner but waiting and doing it in any other fashion would be irresponsible. That being said, the following process will take place over the coming months to democratically elect the people that you wish to be your President, Vice President, Secretary Treasurer and 4 Regional Directors for the next 5 year term.

July 13, 2020 – The Credentials Committee will meet to admit delegates and to decide upon matters or disputes concerning delegate credentials.

July 17, 2020 – A letter will be sent to all delegates who have been admitted by the Credentials Committee to inform them about the election and, in particular, to provide them with details about how to make or to second nominations for President, Vice-President and Secretary Treasurer as well as the Regional Directors. Included in this package will be a nomination sheet that must be returned on the prescribed form. Nominations must be returned by August 21, 2020.

August 22-26, 2020 – Review of nominations by the election supervisor.

August 26, 2020 – Nominated individuals will receive an email from the election supervisor notifying them of their nominations which can be accepted electronically or via faxed letter. Slates are to be given to election supervisor at the same time. Acceptance of nominations must take place not later than August 28, 2020.

September 11, 2020 – Ballots mailed to members.

October 23, 2020 – Ballots counted and election declared by election supervisor.

As we said earlier, it is our belief that holding a convention is a crucial part of our democracy and the executive board will endeavor to hold this at a later date to deal with by laws and resolutions but in the meantime it is important that the members have their chance to speak their voice, through the democratic voting process.

As updates are available, they will be posted on the TCRC MWED website which can be found at tcrcmwed.org

We trust that you and your family and communities will remain healthy as we continue to navigate through the Covid 19 pandemic and remain here to serve you.

In Solidarity,

TCRC MWED Executive Board

Download the original document in PDF here.

During the afternoon of May 28, 1980, the Canadian Pacific, along with the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way, were shocked, shaken and silenced to discover a bus loaded with Engineering Services employees known as the “Prairie Steel Gang,” was involved in a horrific three-vehicle accident. Known as “one of the deadliest motor vehicle disasters in Canadian history,” the accident occurred on the Trans-Canada Highway west of Webb Saskatchewan, a small town close to Swift Current, while the gang was travelling back to their accommodations after a shortened work day. Thirty people were on board, and 22 of the crew were sadly lost, forever changing the lives of their family, communities and co-workers left behind. This tragedy left so many people wondering why and how could similar incidents be prevented in the future?

In the 40 years since the tragedy, CP, alongside its bargaining unit members have made commitments to ensure the safety of the workforce. This commitment has evolved beyond the workplace, to make safety the top priority in our day-to-day lives to ensure we all get to go home safe. Safety is an ongoing journey. If we keep focused on our Home Safe commitment and strive to be vigilant about our personal safety and the safety of our co-workers, we can make a difference to prevent these and other kinds of heartbreaking occurrences from happening. 

“The Prairie Steel Gang incident is a tragic reminder of the importance of safety in all aspects of one’s life,” said Justin Meyer, Vice-President Engineering. “While we take a moment to remember members of the CP family lost in this horrific accident, we must also honour them by remaining vigilant about safety at work and at home.” 

A roadside memorial now marks the accident so that we will remember the souls lost on that fateful day. The CP Engineering Health and Safety Policy Committee consisting of senior management, as well as senior representatives of the TCRC-MWED and the IBEW, will take the time to honour our fallen members and are asking everyone to take the time and remember those precious lives lost 40 years ago. 

“Each and every day our members working in the Engineering Department plan to return home safely to their families said Ken Deptuck, Engineering H&S Policy Co-Chair. “Unfortunately the Prairie Steel Gang employees did not return home safely that tragic day. We honor these employees lost, with their families in always remembering them.” 

The Engineering Health and Safety Policy Committee had planned a roadside memorial visitation on the anniversary date. Due to present travel restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic, the visitation will be set for a later date. 

CP ENGINEERING H&S POLICY COMMITTEE 

Management Co-Chair, Justin Meyer
Labour Co-Chair, Ken Deptuck 

CASE NO. 4706

Heard in Calgary, November 12, 2019

Concerning

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY

And

TEAMSTERS CANADA RAIL CONFERENCE
MAINTENANCE OF WAY EMPLOYEES DIVISION

DISPUTE:

Claim on behalf of P. Obenauer.

THE UNION’S EXPARTE STATEMENT OF ISSUE:

The issue giving rise to this dispute involves bargaining unit employee Patrick Obenauer who was issued two Form 104s on April 8, 2019. The first advised him that he was assessed a 20-day deferred suspension for a rule violation allegedly committed at Maple Meadows on February 10, 2019 while working with Utility 7. The second advised him that he was being dismissed from Company service because of the “the post incident accident non-negative substance test results that you supplied to the company on February 10, 2019 at Dr. Kenefick’s office in Surrey BC after an incident that occurred while working with Utility 7,” an alleged violation of CROR Rule G. A grievance was filed.

Union Position:

Mr. Obenauer did not receive a fair, impartial or complete investigation; Mr. Obenauer’s dismissal was unwarranted, improper and in violation of sections 15.1 and 15.2 of the Collective Agreement.

Mr. Obenauer was assessed a 20-day deferred suspension for a violation of a rule that he has not yet been qualified in.

Mr. Obenauer was dismissed for a violation of Rule G that was not supported by the evidence and the company failed to complete the investigation into this alleged violation therefor rendering the investigation as unfair and partial.

The Company policy regarding “the possible effects of drugs, medication or mood-altering agents…” is fatally flawed because it is based upon the assumption that a failed urinalysis test is, by itself, evidence of impairment while at work. It is not, and a wealth of jurisprudence stands for the proposition that, in the absence of impairment, no discipline can be assessed.

The company failed to meet the burden of proof necessary to show that Mr. Obenauer was impaired while on duty. Therefore, in these circumstances, no discipline may be assessed.

The company violated the wage agreement by not responding to this grievance as prescribed in article 15.7 of wage agreement 41.

The Union requests that, The Company be ordered to reinstate Mr. Obenauer into company service immediately without loss of seniority and with full compensation for all wages and benefits lost as a result of this matter.

Company Position:

The Company denies the Union’s contentions and declines the Union’s requests.

To read the full article, click here (pdf).

The holiday season is upon us. It is one of the best times of the year to spend with family and friends. In an industry where we are often away from our loved ones for long periods of time, it is our sincere hope that you are able to spend time with these loved ones for the Christmas season.

With the end of the holiday season, we will see us in the grips of winter across the country. Winter is a hard time for working in the elements, and most of the membership works outside. It is much more important to take your surroundings into account during this time of year. Snow can cover ice and cause serious slip and trip injuries. Working long hours and night shifts to ensure snow and ice are removed from switches, crossings and responding to broken rail callouts to keep trains moving, make this work more difficult in winter conditions. Winter road conditions make travel to and at work more precarious. Take the time to get where you need to be safely.

The work is never easy and never free of danger. Look out for each other and remember that safety can never be taken for granted.

During the holidays, spend time with family and friends, enjoy this time, as it goes by fast. As you enjoy the Christmas spirit with friends and family, take care to ensure that you have a safe ride home.

Wishing you all the best in 2020, we look forward to working with you all to continue to build our great organization.

In Solidarity from the TCRC MWED executive board and our families, to you and yours.

Gary Doherty
Henry Helfenbein
Anthony Della Porta
Trevor Marshall
Gary McDougall
Wade Phillips
Patrick Gauthier

It is with great pride and in the spirit of solidarity that we would like to pass on the news of another 23 local representatives having received training in Calgary and Kamloops just a couple of weeks ago.

Myself, along with Maclean Foster and Trevor Marshall facilitated the training and it was a success in every manner that you could look at it. The members that attended were engaged, driven and passionate about being able to help their brothers and sisters from the trenches!

The commitment that we made to you as an executive board to train and engage local representatives is not one that will ever be complete, however we are proud that since 2016, there have been approximately 50 new local representatives trained on all regions across the property. The next training session that is planned will be for the Atlantic Region, where we will be putting on a course in French for our brothers and sisters there.

The grassroots members and leaders are the basis of any strong Union and thanks to the fantastic participation from the members on the Pacific Region, along with a few from the Prairies and Eastern, we are stronger as a group as a result of this training.

As I said earlier, training is not something that just stops in any organisation, so if you are interested in receiving the training at some point, let your regional director know so that you can be included!

I have attached some pictures of the Calgary and Kamloops training sessions!

Again thank you to all that participated and we look forward to further strengthening and unifying our great Union through other courses in the future!

In Solidarity,

Wade Phillips
Director Eastern Region
TCRC MWED

“This conference isn’t about me; it’s about you, it’s about us, shaping our future together. That is our theme this year: ‘Teamster Women: Shaping the Future.’ This conference is special because it brings like-minded women together and there’s nothing better than that!” said Nina Bugbee, Director of the Teamsters Women’s Conference, in her opening remarks to the Teamster women who filled every seat of the ballroom inside Le Centre Sheraton Hotel.

The TCRC-MWED was represented by these participants:

“I’m so proud of how Canada treats its workers and stands up for women. But don’t be naïve; nothing in this country was given to us, we had to fight for it. And this is the same fight for you in the U.S. It’s important for you to stand up and get involved,” said François Laporte, President of Teamsters Canada.

As speaker after speaker took to the stage, each had a keen focus on the upcoming 2020 presidential election, the need for more women in office and to stand up for women’s rights.

“A lot of people may think I’m a superhero, but being a superhero has nothing to do with it. It’s your passion for people and people’s rights, for the underdog. It’s standing up and doing what’s right. You need to be fearless and we need more women Teamster representatives.
We need more women leaders at all levels,” said Fernanda Santos, President of Local 847.

Santos was presented with an award dedicated to her service as a Teamster and her groundbreaking success of female Teamster leadership in Canada. Santos is the first female to be elected as a President of a local union in Canada, to serve on Joint Council 52’s executive board and is the second Vice President of the Teamsters International Women’s Caucus, showing that Teamster women have the power to break glass ceilings everywhere.

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa also had a message for the 2020 presidential candidates: “I listened to hours of the debate, and I don’t hear them talking about our issues,” Hoffa said. “I don’t hear the word ‘union.’ I don’t hear the words ‘collective bargaining.’ I don’t hear the words ‘save our pensions.’ Until they say that, they’re not getting one cent of our money!”

Following Hoffa, General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall stated the importance of tuning in to the membership and issues member face every day and the important role the union has to play with
its members.

“We may live in different countries, but working people have the same problems all over the world. But we are privileged in both of our countries to have the Teamsters Union represent us,” Hall said.

You can see more pictures of the 2019 Women’s Conference on teamsterscanada.org

You can read the original article on teamsters.org