Next month, VIA Rail workers will see their current collective agreement expire.
They’ve been trying to negotiate a new agreement with their employer since last October.
The workers include about 1,800 who work in station services, headquarters, maintenance centres, and onboard trains and are represented by Unifor Council 4000. It also includes about 700 diesel engine mechanics, electricians, railcar technicians, and general workers represented by Unifor Local 100.
During the opening sessions, the bargaining team for these workers focused on wage and benefit improvements, enhancing the hybrid pension plan, protecting work ownership, addressing work-life balance, and preventing contracting out.
That last demand is important considering that the workers are afraid that the Liberals’ plan to create a high-speed rail line between Toronto and Québec City will lead to the loss of public-sector unionized jobs.
According to Unifor, the Liberal government has created a crown corporation to oversee a consortium of private corporations—made up of CDPQ Infra, AtkinsRéalis (formerly SNC-Lavalin), Keolis, SYSTRA, Air Canada, and SNCF Voyageurs—as they build and maintain that high speed rail system.
Nearly 6 months after beginning negotiations and the employer refusing to make significant concessions, the union filed for conciliation from the federal government.
Despite the formal structure of conciliation, however, VIA Rail demanded concessions on work rules that the worker claimed “would significantly undermine job security, scheduling rights, and established protections”.
By last month, VIA Rail still wasn’t budging, refusing to make any concessions on their original demands. Not only that, but they still hadn’t even responded to a single monetary proposal put forward by the workers, including wage increases.
This prompted the workers to hold a strike vote in order to increase pressure on the employer to bargain in good faith. Council 4000 members voted 97.5% in favour of striking and Local 100 members voted 96% to strike.
These workers clearly refused to accept the concessions VIA Rail was demanding from them.
The bargaining team for the workers went back to the table at the end of May with this solid strike mandate as leverage to improve the contract. Unfortunately, talks broke down, after “the employer refused to back down from key concessions”.
To be fair, they finally started discussing monetary issues, including wages, now that a strike was on the table. Even the CEO of VIA Rail, Mario Péloquin sat in bargaining. But it wasn’t sufficient.
According to the union, workers face chronic short hours and reduced pay because VIA Rail isn’t managing the spare board system properly. The union claims that they’re refusing to “reduce the number of employees on a spare board when hours fall below the guaranteed minimum”.
This has led to workers not being able to earn a living wage and falling behind the cost of living.
The conciliation period ended 31 May 2025, which kicked off a 21-day cooling off period, after which the workers could begin striking.
Luckily, the company realized this, as they were pushed “to finally address key issues at the table”. The two parties met this past Tuesday and managed to reach a tentative agreement, just 4 days shy of when the workers could go on strike.
The agreement includes gains on wages, job security, and working conditions; although the union isn’t making details public, outside of ratification meetings, which will occur over the next few weeks.
Their current agreement, which has almost expired, included a 5.5% increase in the first year, followed by 3.5% and 2.5% in subsequent years. Hopefully the new agreement has something as meaningful as that.
