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CIRCULAR #06/08 April 4, 2008 TO: All Local Chairpersons & Reps - UTU Re: Canadian National Railway v. United Transportation Union General Chairpersons Mr. Rex Beatty, Mr. Bryan Boechler, Mr. Raymond LeBel, and Ms, Sylvia LeBlanc and The United Transportation Union - Federal Court of Appeal Greetings: As you are all aware, the Company could not accept the fact that the Canadian Industrial Relations Board ruled that the 2007 Strike was conducted in a legal manner. All regulatory steps were met prior to and during the strike. As a result the company filed for a Judicial Review challenging the Board's decision. This has been hanging over everyone's head for the past year. The Judicial Review Hearing took place in Toronto on March 31st,2008. We are enclosing a letter dated March 31st from Michael Church. The contents, we feel, are self-explanatory. This, hopefully, puts an end to this part of the strife that our Members have been faced with. Had the court ruled that the Strike was illegal then not only the named General Chairpersons, but the entire Membership, would have been on the hook for several million dollars. This decision has removed a very heavy burden from our shoulders. The diligence of Mr. Church and the law firm of Caley and Wray is certainly recognized and appreciated. We will keep the Membership apprised of further developments regarding this matter. Should further clarification be required please do not hesitate to contact this Office. In solidarity, Robert S. Thompson General Chairperson U.T.U. Enclosure cc: Secretaries, UTU RST*ldg/cope #458 Attachment - Federal Court Decision Attachment - Letter from Caley & Wray CIRCULAR #06/08 |
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CIRCULAR #05/08 April 1, 2008 TO: All Local Chairpersons & Reps - UTU Re: Excessive Discipline at Canadian National Railway Greetings: This Office has filed far too many grievances regarding excessive discipline that has been issued to our Members. Incidents have happened whereby the Company assesses suspensions or discharge where two years ago the discipline would have been 15 demerits or less. The pattern now is to remove the employee, many of whom are long service employees, from service. The statement then takes place and the company advises the employee that they have been discharged. This causes a great amount of distress to the employee as well as his or her family. The next step, usually after 2 or 3 weeks, is for the Company to approach the employee, the Local or this Office and "reluctantly" agree to reinstate the employee provided that all time held off the working board to count as suspension and the employee must give up their right to appeal. There has been far too many examples of this and the rate of occurrences is, unfortunately, increasing. If the Union appealed these grievances at arbitration, we would succeed with the vast majority. The Member feels that rather than wait a few months to appear before the Arbitrator, they just want to get back on the working board and collect a pay cheque. And, the Company knows this! We know that this has happened at the majority of the terminals across Western Canada. |
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CIRCULAR #04/08 April 1, 2008 TO: All Local Chairpersons & Reps - UTU Re: Filing of Grievances Greetings: The year 2008 is only 3 months old and the unfortunate fact is that this Office has already progressed, as of March 31st, 703 grievances at Step 3 of the grievance procedure. At this rate we will file in excess of 3,000 grievances this year! There are already in excess of 2,000 active grievances in the Office, many of which, that have not been met on at Joint Conference. The Company is loving it! This Office is in the process of filing an unfair labour practice charge against Canadian National Railway. We have spoken to many of you regarding the severity of discipline assessed to several long service employees and how the Company drags everything out in an effort for the Union to capitulate and accept this disciplining of our Members. Quite frankly, we are of the opinion that the Company is obstructing the grievance procedure at every step. Our legal firm of Caley & Wray is assisting us with the charge. We have also been in contact with other Unions and they are in agreement with our position. This Company must think that we all have short memories. They are dead wrong there. One must wonder what the shareholders think when they read all about the turmoil caused by a failed labour relations atmosphere. Even their Managers have launched a lawsuit against them. This is reminiscent of several years ago whereby the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) had in excess of 6,000 grievances pending arbitration. There were several strikes as the employees felt that their employer, Canada Post, would not honour any agreement and issued discipline as if it was water flowing from a tap. That is the exact situation here with rail employees at this company. |
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