Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) on May 27 reported receiving a 72-hour strike notice from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Canadian Signals and Communications System Council No. 11, which represents approximately 300 signals and communications employees across Canada, from Vancouver to Montréal. Members employed under Wage Agreement No. 1 “will lawfully withdraw their services effective 08:00 Mountain Daylight Time on Sunday, May 31, 2026, unless a negotiated settlement is reached before that time,” according to the union. Backed by a 96% strike mandate vote, IBEW members “are raising concerns regarding wages, expenses incurred by employees in the service of the company, and work-life balance issues arising from extensive on-call obligations and demanding schedules,” the union reported May 27. It said that “retention challenges within the Signals & Communications department continue to worsen as experienced employees leave for better-paying opportunities elsewhere in the railway industry, including short line railways and other employers offering improved compensation and quality of life.” “Despite months of bargaining and the completion of the federally mandated conciliation and mediation process under the Canada Labour Code,” the union said, “the company has failed to seriously engage on the Union’s key fiscal proposals.” CPKC reported that during this negotiation, “we have made fair and balanced proposals with wage and benefit increases consistent with collective agreements currently in place with all our other unions across Canada.” It noted that it “has an excellent track record of successful collective bargaining with our unions across North America,” and remains “hopeful…
