https://themilitant.com/2019/11/23/back-cn-rail-workers-asarco-strikers-fights/
Back CN rail workers, Asarco strikers fights!
3,200 Canadian National rail workers strike for safety
By John Steele
Vol. 83/No. 44
December 2, 2019
Canadian National rail workers picket in Brampton, Ontario, Nov. 19,
part of strike for safety.
CBC/Meagan Fitzpatrick
Canadian National rail workers picket in Brampton, Ontario, Nov. 19,
part of strike for safety.
MONTREAL — Carrying Teamsters union placards and homemade signs saying
“Strike for safety” and “We’re tired of being tired,” more than 3,000
Canadian National Railway train conductors, trainpersons and yard
workers went on strike across the country Nov. 19, bringing Canada’s
largest freight carrier to a virtual halt.
The rail workers’ union contract expired July 23. Canadian
government-mediated talks have since failed to produce a contract in
face of the bosses’ drive for concessions and more profits at the
expense of the health, lives and limbs of the rail workers. The workers
responded with a 99.2% vote to strike. The walkout is the first strike
on Canadian National in a decade.
Among the concessions the bosses demand are reduced rest periods and
increases in the amount of time workers can be forced to work overtime
during a shift. They want to make it harder for workers to take time off.
Use of dangerous remote control operations in rail yards is another
major safety issue. The union is fighting CN bosses forcing workers to
hang on “to moving trains with one hand while operating a remotely
controlled locomotive with the other.”
The company is demanding other concessions, including a lifetime cap on
prescription drug coverage.
The day before the strike deadline Canadian National bosses announced
they plan to cut 1,600 jobs — both office and union — out of its North
American workforce of 24,000. The union rejected CN’s demands for
binding arbitration and pressure from government officials not to
strike. The two sides are continuing to negotiate in Montreal.
“We’re tired of working tired,” Teamsters Canada Rail Conference
spokesman Daniel Walter told Canadian Broadcasting reporters on the
picket line in Calgary Nov. 19. “We’re constantly hauling dangerous
products through highly populated areas, and we need to be rested. All
this while CN made over $3.8 billion last quarter.”
The federal Transportation Safety Board said fatigue was a major safety
problem in 90 investigations of derailments and other incidents it has
conducted since 1992. Striking rail workers are saying, “Enough is enough.”
Fifty percent of all merchandise in Canada moves by rail. Canadian
bosses’ outfits like the Chemistry Industry Association and the Mining
Association are pressing Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party-led government
to order rail workers back to work. The bosses’ demands are backed by
the provincial governments in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Some grain is
being moved by management personnel, but thousands of additional tons
are stuck in storage.
Western Canadian governments, oil bosses and others demand Trudeau cut
off the strike.
Three strikes by rail workers on the Canadian Pacific — the country’s
second largest freight carrier — since 2012 were halted when the
government enacted or threatened back-to-work legislation.
Trudeau’s minority government rules with support from the New Democratic
Party, which says it will not support legislation to end the strike. His
party lost the popular vote in the country and was routed in the west in
the Oct. 21 federal elections.
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In This Issue
Front Page Articles •Back CN rail workers, Asarco strikers fights!
•Asarco strikers fight for union, first raise in 10 years
•Bolivia protests demand end to rightists’ ouster of Morales gov’t
•Step up pace to make fall books, fund, Militant drive
•Protests win stay of execution, new hearing for Rodney Reed
•Democrats’ impeachment drive targets working people
•‘For recognition of Israel and of a Palestinian state’
Feature Articles •International conference in Havana says ‘US hands off
Cuba!’
Also In This Issue •Hundreds protest in London, demand ‘No more Grenfells!’
•Bakery owner who won victory against college dies
•Working farmers face bankruptcy, record debt
•Hong Kong workers back students against police attacks
•Contribute to the 2019 Socialist Workers Party fund
•Fall Campaign to sell Militant subscriptions and books Oct. 5 – Dec. 10
(Week 6)
•Socialist Workers Party Fund Drive Oct. 5 – Dec. 10 (Week 6)
Editorials •Support Canadian rail workers strike!
On the Picket Line •Rail workers speak out against job cuts, threats to
safety
•Washington paraeducators gain teachers support, wage raise
•Meatpackers in Quebec strike for higher wages
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David Hume
“ In our reasonings concerning matter of fact, there are all imaginable degrees
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