The 239 Unifor union members at Canadian National Railway’s Autoport in Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia, have been on strike since Feb. 27. CN bosses have brought in scabs and filed for an injunction against the strikers’ right to picket. The union has been holding the picket line strong in face of these intimidation tactics. They are demanding higher wages, turning down an offer of only 8% spread out over three years.
“We are always open to going back to the table as long as the company understands that our members, their employees, deserve a fair wage and a fair and equitable deal,” Sean Warnell, a 27-year Autoport worker, told the CBC. “Everybody has bills, mortgages, kids are in university. People are just trying to make ends meet.”
This is the third strike at Canadian National since 2019. Some 3,200 train conductors and yardmasters, members of the Teamsters, went out in November 2019 in a strike over safety. Signal and communications workers, members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, followed in 2022.
Autoport workers move about 185,000 vehicles on and off railcars annually, one of the biggest such operations in North America. Canadian National bosses raked in over $16.8 billion Canadian dollars ($12.4 billion) in 2023.