21 April 2010

TCRC Hopes Canadian Shortline Workers Will Have Role

North Bay Ontario - Unionized workers at Rail-America's Ottawa Valley Railway don't want to be forgotten as Canadian Pacific seeks a new operator for the lines connecting Sudbury, North Bay, Mattawa, Temiscaming, and Chalk River.
 
Marty Morrison, president of Teamsters Canada Rail Conference Division 145, said the engineers he represents left Canadian Pacific for the OVR in 1996 with the understanding they'd be working until at least 2016.
 
We stayed behind and took lower wages and made the little company go," Morrison said Tuesday, adding that dozens of members laid off by OVR retain seniority rights by whoever operates the line.
 
Canadian Pacific placed an advertisement in The Nugget Monday providing notice of sale or discontinuance of railway line," specifically 17 kilometres of track near Chalk River and 100 kilometres east of North Bay.
 
CP intends to discontinue and not resume operating the line if it is not transferred," the advertisement said, stating the deadline for written notice is 4:30 p.m. 18 Jun 2010.
 
Ontario Northland Rail confirmed last week it is one of several groups which have expressed interest in operating the line between Sudbury and Temiscaming, Quebec, in response to a previous CP notice.
 
Two parties have expressed interest to run the line between Smiths Falls and Petawawa, according to a CP spokesman who also said they couldn't name the companies due to confidentiality rules.
 
Morrison said he'll be conferring with national Teamsters during a meeting in Ottawa next week about how to protect their working rights on the line.
 
He said there are another 40 maintenance of way workers still at the OVR as well, adding there were many more who were also laid off.
 
CP has up to six months to negotiate with companies with legitimate expressions of interest before it offers to transfer all of its interests in the line to federal, provincial, and municipal governments it passes through.
 
Each level of government will then have 30 days to accept CP's offer before the line is abandoned.
 
Nipissing MPP Monique Smith told The Nugget last week the association representing unionized workers at the ONR flagged" a number of shortline rails in a state of flux."
 
Smith said the General Chairman's Association for ONR unions feels the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission can use the CP lines to bolster economic foundations in the area.
 
Those concerns, she said, were raised with the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, which is looking at transportation infrastructure as part of the Northern Growth Plan.
 
"It's still in the draft stage," Smith said.
 
Nipissing-Temiskaming MP Anthony Rota said he's also concerned with the fragmentation and deterioration of rail infrastructure.
 
"Independent companies are being allowed to bid on shortlines, but I'm not sure the level of upkeep has been as good as it should be," Rota said.
 
"If we don't do something soon, we're going to lose it... we have to look at the regulations in place if we're going to be serious about rail."
 
Dave Dale