April 7, 2025
All TCRC Members,
Further to our membership update on March 24th, 2025, you know the TCRC and CN Rail were unsuccessful in reaching an acceptable Collective Agreement during mediation sessions held from March 7th to 10th and on March 22nd and 23rd. Under the terms the Minister of Labour set forth last August, the parties were required to present all outstanding issues to Arbitrator Kaplan for Final Binding Interest Arbitration. That hearing took place on April 2nd, 2025 in Toronto.
Arbitrator Kaplan’s award has now been released. The terms, along with some brief explanations, are outlined below, and the award itself is also attached. Further updates will be provided regarding implementation and timelines as they become known.
Regarding this process, a brief explanation of what interest arbitration entails may be beneficial when reviewing the award. To reiterate, binding arbitration was never the TCRC’s goal when seeking to renew the Collective Agreement(s). Unfortunately, CN’s demands were (and remain) completely unacceptable throughout the entire bargaining process. The Company would not relent on what it considered necessary operational changes, primarily resulting from reforms in government regulation. The TCRC could never agree to these concessionary demands that encroached on the rights of you, the TCRC members at CN.
