Canadian Pacific and Kansas City locomotive at a train yard in Mexico City, Mexico.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
The union that represents railway track signal workers at Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. CP-T says it will strike on Sunday morning if contract talks fail to yield an agreement.
CPKC and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have been at the bargaining table since September, and will continuing bargaining through the weekend in Calgary with the help of a federally appointed mediator, the railway and the union said separately.
Jason Sommer, senior general chairman of the IBEW’s rail division, said wages and a high turnover rate are the main hurdles to an agreement.
“It’s at the point here where we’ve had to issue our [strike] notice because we need to get the company to seriously engage with us on addressing the employee retention and the compensation packages,” Mr. Sommer said by phone.
Without elaborating, the railway said it has a backup plan in place should the 300 workers strike, and operations will continue.
“We remain committed to bargaining in good faith with IBEW in order to reach a negotiated outcome that is in the best interests of our employees and their families, our customers, and the company,” CPKC said.
The union said its members will strike at 8 a.m. MT on Sunday. The previous five-year contract expired at the end of 2025.
Employers press Ottawa to curb strike activity in key federally regulated sectors
IBEW members install and repair trackside signals and switches as well as warning systems at road crossings on CPKC’s Canadian rail network.
The workers, skilled technicians who repair sophisticated safety systems, are paid about $39 an hour, which is $4 less than their IBEW counterparts at Canadian National Railway CNR-T and $2 less than those at St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad, Mr. Sommer said.
“It’s a little embarrassing, given that CPKC is such a large company,” he said, “but overall that’s created huge pressure on the work group because there’s no employee retention.”
There are more than 40 vacancies in the division, which means workers have to cover two or three positions, creating a stressful work environment, he said.
A work stoppage will be “an irritant” for CPKC and could slow freight and commuter trains on some railways but will not cause serious disruption to supply lines, he said.
The federal government is looking at changes to the Canada Labour Code, which governs railways and other federally regulated employers. Ottawa says it wants to “modernize the federal labour relations framework” to protect the economy and employment.
Unions have accused the government of seeking ways to make it harder to strike.
The Railway Association of Canada, a lobby group that represents CPKC, has called for an end to strikes and lockouts during talks assisted by a mediator.
A series of labour disputes disrupted Canada’s transportation network in recent years and renewed worries the country is not a reliable trading partner.
In 2024, CN and CPKC simultaneously locked out about 10,000 employees, shutting down the country’s freight rail network. The same year, the Port of Montreal and B.C.’s ports were hit by employer lockouts, halting much of Canada’s global trade.