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CANADA: BC Rail locks out workers in major labor dispute

BC Rail highlights

CANADA: BC Rail locks out workers in labor dispute

VANCOUVER -- Freight and passenger service on Canada's third largest railway ground to a halt Monday when BC Rail Ltd. locked out its workers in a dispute over work rules and wages, Reuters reported.

No new talks were planned in the contract dispute between the seven unions representing the more than 1,500 employees and the railroad, which is owned by the province of British Columbia, officials said.

The railroad authorized a lockout after the unions on Friday issued a 72-hour strike notice. The unions had said they had planned only minor job actions, but to do that they legally had to issue the warning of a full strike potential.

A union official told reporters Monday they had also offered to suspend the strike notice for 30 days if the railway lifted the lockout, but a company official said it had not receive any such offer.

"We are more than willing to sit down and negotiate, but so far that has not happened,'' BC Rail spokesman Alan Dever said.

The lockout began at 12:00 noon PST Monday.

BC Rail operates 1,446 miles (2,314 km) of track in British Columbia with a main line that runs from North Vancouver to Fort Nelson. It had net income of C$26.5 million on revenues of C$417.6 million in 1998, according to its annual report.

The railroad has demanded work rule changes it said will increase productivity and offset economic problems caused by a decline in rates and shipments of its core business of timber products and coal.

The unions, which have been working without a contract for two years, argue the proposed rule changes will eliminate jobs and create safety problems.

The employees have asked B.C. Premier Dan Miller to end the lockout. Miller's office said last week he is monitoring the situation but had no immediate plan to intervene.

Lumber industry officials said it would be difficult to gauge the immediate impact of a railway shutdown, because many of the sawmills served by BC Rail have been idled for the holiday season.

BC Rail said buses would replace its idled passenger trains until at least Dec. 29.

CANADA: Labor lockout shuts down BC Rail

OTTAWA -- BC Rail Ltd., which carries Canadian forest products to the United States and coal to Japan, shut down operations indefinitely when management locked out employees at 3 p.m. EDT Monday, the Journal of Commerce reported.

The lockout came after a strike notice was issued Friday by the seven trade unions representing 1,600 workers at the railway owned by the government of British Columbia, Canada's westernmost province.

The British Columbia Labor Relations Board stepped in after the lockout began and scheduled contract negotiations between the railway and unions. Union spokesman Bill Tieleman said progress was not likely soon.

Tieleman said the unions had offered, through the Labor Relations Board, to lift their strike notice for 30 days and resume bargaining if BC Rail would not stage its lockout. ''They rejected that,'' he said.

While the 1,573-kilometer freight and passenger railway is shut down, shippers, mainly of forest products, coal and some mineral concentrates, must find ''other alternatives'' for transporting their purchases, Dever said.

Those other alternatives would essentially be trucks, a great and increasing competitor to BC Rail, carrying goods to port at Vancouver, across the U.S. border, or to points along Canada's two national rail lines.

BC Rail serves the northern and interior parts of British Columbia, and about half of its business comes from transporting lumber and other forest products to the U.S. and Asia. A slump in exports to both markets has closed several sawmills. Northeastern British Columbia coal mine production is also being slowed down.

The unions have been without a contract for two full years.

Dever said the lockout follows 15 months of fruitless negotiations. Tieleman said the company sought a 20% cut in unionized payroll, a two-tier wage structure in which new workers would be paid less for the same work than longer-term workers, longer hours for train running crews and other changes to the contract that expired December 31, 1997. A federal mediator had quit the negotiations last month.

The company a year ago rejected a union offer of no wage increases for the two years workers have been without a contract and 2% for the third year beginning next week.

CANADA: Communities threatened as BC Rail locks out workers

VANCOUVER -- BC Rail locked out about 1,600 unionized workers Monday, effectively shutting down Canada's third-largest freight railway and sending a chill through scores of B.C. communities that rely on the operation to move cargo, the Vancouver Sun reported today.

Both sides in the dispute are being called to a Labour Relations Board meeting today to discuss the possibility of resuming talks.

Along the northern reaches of BC Rail's 1,573-kilometre main line, coal mines, forestry companies and other operations began to stockpile cargo as mayors of northern communities warned of layoffs.

"For awhile, the forestry communities can stockpile, but it would back up and constipate the whole system," said Steve Thorlakson, mayor of Fort St. John. "You can't just snap your fingers and get trucks to move this stuff."

The Crown corporation defended its lockout as necessary to head off a strike threat by the Council of Trade Unions of BC Rail.

"We were forced to do this by the strike notice," spokesman Alan Dever said Monday.

But union spokesman Bill Tieleman said the company rejected a union offer Monday to lift their strike notice for 30 days and resume talks if BC Rail lifted its lockout threat.

Dever said the offer was rejected because the rail system was already essentially shut down. He said BC Rail's cars have been locked down in BC Rail's various marshalling yards.

"We don't have any stranded cars anywhere," he said.

The lockout affects holiday trains, including a Pacific Starlight Millennium New Year's Eve trip that was to take passengers from North Vancouver to Porteau Cove in Howe Sound.

Roughly 1,100 people are affected by the cancellation of the millennium run and other seasonal trains. They will be offered refunds and vouchers. BC Rail is also running some buses until Dec. 29 to ease the inconvenience to some other passengers affected by the shutdown.

While both sides feuded in the media, leaders in resource communities looked on aghast.

"[BC Rail] is critical to resource communities, particularly forest communities," said Fort St. John's Thorlakson, also president of the Union of B.C. Municipalities.

Thorlakson, whose community is home to about 27,000 people, urged the province to get both sides to return to the table in order to resolve the dispute.

"If the government delays sending a strong message until the pressure builds, they will have lost the initiative," he said.

"They should be setting the tone now."

An official in the office of Premier Dan Miller would only say that the premier "considers it a positive step that both parties will be talking again," referring to the labour board talks.

In Fort. St. John, BC Rail absorbs the output of various operations in the community, 459 kilometres north of Prince George.

They include two sawmills, a pulp mill, a natural-gas processing plant, and coal brought in from the district of Tumbler Ridge.

"How long before we're in a crisis? Four weeks," said Thorlakson.

In Tumbler Ridge, about 241 kilometres from Fort. St. John, Mayor Clay Iles predicted calm, then layoffs.

Teck Corp runs two coal operations -- Quintette Coal and the Bullmoose mine -- in the district, employing about 750 of the district's 2,600 residents.

"We can go for a short period of time stockpiling coal," said Iles.

"But if we're unable to move coal, it won't be long before they have to lay people off."

Teck Corp executive Mike Lipkewich laughed at the suggestion that the company might be able to move its coal by truck instead of train.

"That's not an economic option," said Lipkewich, senior vice-president of operations.

"It's rail or nothing."

In Vancouver, Lipkewich said the company will be trying to decide today what to do about the situation.

"It will be business as usual in the short term," he said. "I am hoping that [BC Rail] can solve its problem in the short term because it is going to affect us."

Workers with BC Rail have been without a contract for about two years.

Last month, BC Rail's seven unions voted 84 per cent in favour of possible job action in a strike vote.

The unions are willing to follow provincial zero-, zero- and two-per-cent wage guidelines over three years. The company wants productivity improvements to offset declines in its core rail business.

CANADA: BC Rail locks out 1,600 staff; Businesses scramble as operations halted

Vancouver -- BC Rail Ltd. locked out 1,600 unionized employees and halted operations yesterday, sending West Coast businesses scrambling to find other ways to get their goods to market, the Toronto Globe and Mail reported today.

A last-ditch effort by unions at the Crown-owned railway to avert the lockout, spurred by a Christmas Eve 72-hour strike notice they delivered, couldn't prevent Canada's third-largest freight transporter from bolting the doors at noon yesterday.

Meanwhile, as clients hustle, workers get modest benefits instead of wages of up to $30 an hour, lumber sits in the fog-shrouded yards and passengers on a special New Year's Eve millennium dinner train have had the trip scrapped, Premier Dan Miller (the minister responsible for BC Rail) is sitting tight. The Premier is limiting any involvement to "monitoring" things, a government spokesman said.

The lockout could be a big blow to the reputation of the railway, which stresses competitive rates and reliability.

The disruption could have a particular impact on British Columbia's forestry sector, which is in the midst of a fragile recovery. The shipping of forest products make up half of the railway's revenue.

"We are making alternative arrangements as we speak," said Canfor Corp. spokeswoman Susan Yerkovich. Canfor is a big shipper of pulp and other forest products on BC Rail's lines, from its mills in Prince George, in north-central B.C., to the Port of Vancouver. She said trucks are a main option now.

While there is no immediate impact because its sawmills are shut until Jan. 3 for the holidays, Ms. Yerkovich said that in the longer term, "it will be inconvenient to get our product to market," which includes lumber to the United States, pulp to Europe and Asia and newsprint to Japan.

Ron MacDonald, president of the Vancouver-based industry group Council of Forest Industries, said the lockout delivers two blows to the railway's resource customers.

"First, this is another bruise on the reputation of B.C. as a jurisdiction that can deliver goods in a timely fashion," he said, noting that the lockout follows a port truckers' dispute several months ago and the recent Port of Vancouver lockout, the end of which was legislated by Ottawa. "The day that legislation was passed I flew to Japan and met [B.C. forest products] customers who asked, 'Now that the lockout is cleared up, can you give assurances there will be no more work stoppages?' "

He said the second blow is the extra cost shippers must bear to use other transportation, mainly trucks -- easier said than done. "It's not a matter of 2,000 empty trucks on the road that we can fill with lumber. There's a capacity problem." Forest companies have told him using trucks will cost up to 15 per cent more. "Most companies have negotiated volume rates with railways." Because truckers now have a captive market, "I think they'll command a higher price."

Unionized employees felt the impact immediately yesterday. "I can't even get into my locker to get my laundry out," lamented one worker at the North Vancouver-based railway's intermodal division.

Others affected are mining companies such as Teck Corp., which ships coal on BC Rail, and people who use the train's specialty passenger services such as the Royal Hudson or those who use it to get to such places as the Hills resort in British Columbia's Cariboo region. The Hills and the railway offer package trips for customers.

The lockout "is something that could be damaging," Hills manager Pat Corbett told a Vancouver radio station. "We're hoping we don't get cancellations."

Already BC Rail has cancelled its Pacific Starlight New Year's Eve millennium train and several specialty passenger trips that were to run this week. It is offering full refunds and vouchers in return. About 1,000 ticket holders are affected, company spokesman Alan Dever said.

The unions are chafing at the company's wish to lop 20 per cent of the unionized workers from its payroll, said Ross Peterson, vice-chairman of the Council of Trade Unions, the body representing the railway's seven unions. The company wants ways to increase productivity and efficiency in the face of competition from truckers and falling profit stemming from the collapse of Asian export markets in 1997.

Yesterday morning, in a final bid to avert the lockout, the union group offered to lift its 72-hour strike notice for 30 days if the railway agreed to lift its lockout notice for the same period of time.

"We felt it was insane going down that particular road," Mr. Peterson said. "We thought both parties should look at their positions and re-evaluate where they stood."

The railway refused.

CANADA: BC Rail set to lock out workers, forestry firms lament the move; Industry observers fear the shutdown will do more damage to B.C.'s reputation.

VANCOUVER -- BC Rail is set to lock out its 2,000 workers today in a shutdown of Canada's third-largest freight railway that observers fear will deal another blow to British Columbia's reputation for reliably shipping goods, the Vancouver Sun reported Monday.

As both sides in the labour dispute stood firm on Sunday, observers said the idling of the Crown corporation that runs a 1,573-km main line from North Vancouver to Fort Nelson will have business leaders in foreign markets shaking their heads.

"I don't know how many hits our reputation can take before some of our [foreign] customers say, 'We don't need this,' " said Ron MacDonald, president of the Council of Forest Industries.

B.C.'s reliability has already taken a kick, said MacDonald, due to a nine-day lockout at B.C. ports in November and a summer strike by port truckers.

"Nineteen ninety-nine seems to just have had a plethora of problems on the transportation side," MacDonald said.

The Crown corporation is locking out the workers, essentially to get the jump on rail unions that had served a 72-hour strike notice on Christmas Eve.

The lockout will shut down the system, and holiday trains, including a special $400-a-ticket Pacific Starlight Millennium New Year's Eve trip that was to take passengers from North Vancouver to Porteau Cove.

Roughly 1,100 people will be affected by the cancellation of the millennium run and other seasonal trains. BC Rail is offering refunds, vouchers and running buses until Dec. 29 to ease the inconvenience.

It's also likely to affect scores of companies, notably those in the forestry sector that is crucial to BC Rail's bottom line, though some observers noted that many mills are idled for the Christmas season.

On Sunday, both management and a spokesman for the seven-member Council of Trade Unions on BC Rail said no talks are planned.

"We haven't had any contact with anyone today," said BC Rail spokesman Alan Dever.

"At this point, no one is talking to anyone -- as we speak."

Dever said it had been hoped the lockout notice would "shake the tree" to prompt renewed talks with the union, but that had not happened.

Union representative Lance Yearley said his side was "disappointed" at the lockout, suggesting the B.C. government was prodding the Crown corporation to its stand.

"I don't think they would be able to shut down the province on their own without it coming directly from [Premier Dan] Miller," Yearley said. "If he doesn't have control of the railway, who does?"

An official in the premier's office rejected that theory.

"BC Rail Corp. handles bargaining," the official said Sunday.

"This is, first and foremost, a matter between BC Rail and its employees. The premier is fully briefed on the matter and will be monitoring it as it develops."

While both sides squabbled, others in B.C. tallied up the likely impacts of a shutdown of the rail service.

Much of the concern came from the forestry sector. Forestry products are BC Rail's primary revenue source, comprising 50 per cent of its revenues.

"This is probably the last thing you want to end 1999," MacDonald said.

"Any talk of a disruption in our ability to provide our product to our customers is a serious problem."

MacDonald said he saw that concern up close the day the port lockout ended when he flew to Japan for meetings with suppliers.

"The question arose in every single meeting about whether or not B.C. wood producers were a reliable supplier of product to the Japanese market," MacDonald said.

"It was the first item in each of the meetings we had. Any talk of further disruption in our ability to service our customers in a timely fashion is not good news for our industry right now."

Although the council loudly called for a legislated end to the port lockout, MacDonald suggested his group would take a more subdued approach this time.

"I think most of our members would hope that if there is a lockout, it is resolved quickly and our people go back to collective bargaining."

Industry officials said the Christmas season will blunt the impact of the shutdown because many operations are now closed.

"It doesn't affect our sawmills. We're not working," said Susan Yerkovich, a spokeswoman for forest products company, Canfor Corp.

Canfor's dozen sawmills are taking a Christmas break until Jan.3 although three pulp mills in Prince George are running.

"If the lockout persists, it will impact us, but we will find alternative means of transportation," she said.

Hank Ketcham, president and CEO of West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd, said he could only measure the impact of the shutdown by its duration.

At this point, only a Quesnel pulp mill is running.

"Obviously we can get by for two or three days without any immediate affect if they go back to work," he said.

"If they don't, it will back up our inventory and we will have problems."

He said the company could use trucks to replace trains.

"We've done it in the past, but it's very disruptive. It adds a real cost burden, and often you can't get all your product to market."

Last month, BC Rail's seven unions voted 84 per cent in favour of possible job action in a strike vote.

The unions have been without a contract for two years.

Unions are willing to follow provincial zero, zero, and two per cent wage guidelines over three years.

The company wants productivity improvements in a new collective agreement to offset declines in its core rail business.

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