Other unsafe changes to the agreement include an 8% pay increase during the 3-year agreement (2.5% / 2.5% / 3%), with retroactive effect to July 23, 2019. Workers will also receive a taxable ratification bonus of $1,000. A number of improvements have also been made to the health and wellness plan. In addition to the annual salary increases granted under a five-year contract, it includes improving health, dental and health services, as well as improving travel costs for the 3,000 union members who inspect, wait and repair CN`s infrastructure. The new collective agreement expires on July 22, 2022. Details of the agreement, which must be ratified by union members, were not immediately available. „If we had taken an approach like the previous government`s in deciding to legislate again, we would not have a solution today,“ said Mr. Garneau. „Because as quickly as we would have decided to convene Parliament, with everything that needs to be done to get royal approval of a law, we still would not have an agreement today.“ „Ottawa has consistently violated the right of rail workers to strike.

But this government remained calm and focused on helping the parties reach an agreement and it worked,“ said François Laporte. The new contract follows an agreement in principle reached at the end of November, which ended an eight-day strike that nearly brought the railways to a standstill. Details of the interim agreement have not been made public. Teamsters Canada says it has reached a preliminary agreement with CN Rail to end a week of strike action and has reached an agreement in principle to renew the collective agreement of more than 3,000 railway workers. MONTREAL, May 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) announced today that, after four preliminary agreements between CN and Unifor Council, 4,000 negotiators passed union members in March and approved three of the four contracts during ratification. These interim agreements were concluded before they expired. The new treaty focuses mainly on safety, particularly with regard to crew fatigue and working time.