VIA Rail workers issue 72-hour strike notice
by CM Staff
At the table, VIA Rail reportedly continued to push for concessions including the removal of the Supplemental Agreement for both Unifor Council 4000 and Unifor Local 100 members.
Group of VIA Rail workers (CNW Group/Unifor)
MONTREAL — Unifor Council 4000 and Local 100 announced the union’s 72 hours’ strike notice to VIA Rail after talks failed to progress.
“VIA Rail workers are frustrated that the employer continues to push concessions and not work towards a fair and equitable collective agreement for our members,” said Scott Doherty, Executive Assistant to Unifor’s National President and lead negotiator. “Unifor members at VIA are highly skilled and contributed to the success of the company. We will do whatever it takes to get members the collective agreement that they deserve.”
If the more than 2,000 maintenance workers, on-board service personnel, chefs, sales agents and customer service staff at VIA Rail cannot reach a deal by Monday, July 11, 2022 at 00:01 am eastern they will be on the picket line.
From June 20 to July 1, 2022 both Unifor Council 4000 and Unifor Local 100 conducted strike votes with VIA Rail members across Canada. The results for the vote were 99.4% in favour of strike action at Local 100 and 99.3 % in favour of strike action from Council 4000 members.
At the table, VIA Rail reportedly continued to push for concessions including the removal of the Supplemental Agreement for both Unifor Council 4000 and Unifor Local 100 members. The removal of the supplemental agreement will result in the loss of job security.
Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy.
