CANADA: Eleven weeks into a strike that has kept about 300 CPKC signal and communications workers off the job, their union says the numbers just got clearer — 89% of members who voted rejected the railway’s latest contract offer.

Canadian Pacific locomotives hauling a freight train through Crowsnest Pass in British Columbia
Canadian Pacific locomotives 8893 and 8899 at Crowsnest Pass in British Columbia. Illustrative photo. Photo: Hansueli Krapf, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Canadian Signals and Communications Systems Council No. 11 have been on the picket line between Vancouver and Montreal since May 31, according to Peace Arch News. Railway Supply previously reported the strike’s opening days; this update covers the Aug. 14 vote and a parallel workforce move CPKC is making during the dispute.

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97% turnout, 89% against

Of the union’s members, 287 voted — a 97% turnout — and 256 of them, or 89%, rejected CPKC’s offer. “Our members have spoken with an unmistakably clear voice,” IBEW Senior General Chairman Jason Sommer said, adding the union remains “united in their determination to achieve a fair collective agreement.” The dispute centers on wages, on-call obligations and scheduling; CPKC has pointed to a seven-days-on, seven-days-off schedule already used by its Calgary workers as a model, while IBEW argues that approach doesn’t fit communities like Revelstoke, where cost of living and hiring conditions differ. CPKC spokesperson Terry Cunha said the company’s contingency plans remain in place and rail operations continue.

A relocation running alongside the strike

Separate from the labour dispute, CPKC is this summer relocating 123 Revelstoke-based railroaders to Kamloops, a move the company has framed as addressing housing and cost-of-living pressures. CPKC did not comment further on the relocation when asked for an update this week, according to Peace Arch News. The announcement does not specify whether any of the relocating workers are IBEW members currently on strike, or how the two processes intersect.

IBEW has also filed 19 complaints with the Canada Industrial Relations Board alleging CPKC’s use of third-party replacement workers violates the Canada Labour Code; the board has heard only two of those complaints so far, which the union says is delaying resolution.

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