A strike that threatened to suspend rail passenger services across Canada was averted early Tuesday after Unifor and Via Rail reached an interim agreement, according to the union and the rail operator.
Unifor, which represents 2,400 Via Rail employees, said the interim agreement was reached just hours before members were ready to strike.
Instead, both the union and the said service will operate normally, pending ratification of the agreement.
No details have been revealed
Unifor chief negotiator Scott Doherty did not discuss the details of the deal.
Unifor issued a 72-hour strike notice to the national railway company on Friday, indicating that employees were willing to leave work if a new contract could not be negotiated before 12:01 on Monday.
The union extended that deadline until later Monday and both sides continued to speak, overcoming the two strike deadlines. The final deadline was set at 11:59 p.m. ET.
“It’s been a tough round of negotiations,” Doherty said. “But both Via and we rolled up our sleeves and found a way to do things.”
A strike would have seen maintenance workers, on-board service staff, chefs, sales agents and customer service staff lined up at the picket line and forced Via to stop services at all costs. the country.
In a statement, Via apologized if the threatened labor action disrupted passengers ’travel plans.
“We stand in solidarity with the passengers and communities whose plans have been affected in recent days due to the uncertainty caused by this potential strike,” said Martin R. Landry, president and CEO of Via, in a communiqué.
Unifor said job security was the main issue on the table during labor negotiations.