Our Toronto and Ottawa offices successfully represented Bombardier Transport Canada Inc. in an interest arbitration between BTI and the Teamsters “Division 760,” which covers maintenance workers, conductors and locomotive engineers operating Montreal’s EXO commuter train system who are represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC).  

In April 2022, the parties reached an agreement and executed a Memorandum of Agreement, but the employees rejected it in a ratification vote by 92.7% because of expressed concerns about the significant inflationary increases in the consumer price index. TCRC sought to improve the terms agreed to, with significantly higher wage increases asserted on the basis of inflationary pressures.

Following arguments by both parties, the arbitrator incorporated a revised wage proposal that Bombardier offered at the hearing, taking into consideration the employees’ concerns about rising inflation and looking to the Bank of Canada’s economic forecasts at the material times as key indicators of the reasonableness and comparability of the parties’ respective positions and the employer’s adjustments in position. The arbitrator found that TCRC failed to provide compelling evidence to justify enhancing the terms and conditions beyond those previously negotiated and put forward for ratification.

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