UTU News Digest - Tuesday, September 29, 1998

UTU Daily News Digest

Information of interest to operating railroad and transportation employees
For
Tuesday, September 29, 1998

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Canadian Auto Workers ratify collective agreement with Canadian Pacific Railway

CALGARY -- Members of the Canadian Auto Workers Union, representing 3,500 shopcraft employees at Canadian Pacific Railway, ratified a new collective agreement, covering the period through to the end of 2000.

"This is an important agreement that effectively balances the objectives of the CAW's members and the company's productivity goals," said Rob Ritchie, CPR President and Chief Executive Officer.

The three-year agreement provides for improved productivity by allowing flexibility between certain job classifications. These provisions are intended to move locomotives through maintenance points faster, resulting in improved train performance and, ultimately, better customer service.

"We will achieve tangible productivity gains through this agreement," Ritchie said. "It will allow us to work together in new ways in order to produce the kind of customer-focused service that creates value in the marketplace."

The agreement also provides for two-per-cent wage increases in each year of the agreement, as well as benefit and pension improvements.

CPR now has national agreements with all of its Canadian unions, representing about 13,400 employees.

In a NAFTA reverse, Mexico’s only vehicle maker to move to U.S.

MEXICO CITY -- Dina, Mexico's only vehicle manufacturer, has decided to "abandon" its home country and move to the United States, in the hope of reducing its costs.

The company, which manufactures busses and trucks, was privatized nine years ago, and has now decided to withdraw from the Mexican Stock Exchange and remain on the NYSE. The company will first have to move its company address to the US, where it hopes to gain success on the more stable North American market, given the difficult economic situation in Mexico, which has prohibited it from clearing its $700 million debt. The company will still manufacture in Mexico.

CPR sells marine operation to Southern Railway

CALGARY – Canadian Pacific Railway CPR) announced it has sold its West Coast marine freight business, Coastal Marine Operations (CMO), to Southern Railway of British Columbia Ltd. (SRY).

CMO, based in Delta, BC, provides marine freight service between the BC mainland and Vancouver Island. It carries trailers and containers for trucking and distribution customers, as well as railcars for Nanaimo-based E&N Railfreight and a small amount of other drive-on freight traffic.

CPR announced in May that it was seeking bids for CMO. CPR will work closely with SRY to ensure the efficient handling of current and future freight business to and from Vancouver Island, which remains an important and highly valued market for the railway.

The success of rail and marine freight operations is vital to the future of BC’s port-rail economy. The approximately 80 employees of CMO were notified today of the sale. It is anticipated that there will be no loss of employment as a result of the transaction.

"In acquiring CPR's Coastal Marine Operations, we are significantly expanding our transportation services in the southern BC coastal regions. We look forward to working with CMO employees and customers to continue to provide the region with efficient and reliable marine freight service," said Dick Stoeckly, president of SRY.

SRY is a short-line railway linking the Greater Vancouver area and the Fraser River Valley. SRY is a member of the Washington Group of Companies, an association of independent businesses in Canada and the U.S. The focus of the Washington Group is mining, construction and transportation.

In addition to SRY, the rail transportation sector includes Montana Rail Link, established in 1987, and I&M Rail Link. I&M, formed in 1996, acquired a segment of Canadian Pacific Railway's Soo Line network, linking Minneapolis, Chicago and Kansas City. CPR retains a one- third ownership interest in I&M Rail Link. Calgary-based CPR, a subsidiary of Canadian Pacific Limited, operates 15,500 miles of track in Canada and the U.S., has about 20,000 employees and annual revenues of about $3.7 billion.