{"id":709556,"date":"2026-06-02T07:33:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T07:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/709556\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T07:33:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T07:33:27","slug":"cpkc-signals-communications-workers-on-strike-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/709556\/","title":{"rendered":"CPKC signals, communications workers on strike \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sixty unionized signals and communications workers employed by Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited railway in Winnipeg are on strike.<\/p>\n

They are members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, whose 300 members nationwide started labour action on Monday.<\/p>\n

The workers install, repair and maintain railway communication and signalling machinery on the CPKC network. The union said its 72-hour strike notice expired Sunday morning after months of bargaining over wages, employees\u2019 expenses and concerns about work-life balance.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"MIKAELA
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n

Winnipeg-based IBEW union members form a picket line at the CPKC railyard on Keewatin Avenue on Monday. CPKC says rail service will continue.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg members gathered outside the CPKC Winnipeg Intermodal Terminal on Keewatin Street. Their pay has \u201cfallen significantly behind the other signals and communication groups and other employers,\u201d said Jason Sommer, senior general chairman of the union\u2019s rail division.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had to exercise our right to withdraw our services,\u201d Sommer said Monday. \u201cWinnipeg has a major terminal area, as does, obviously, Calgary, Port Coquitlam, B.C., Toronto \u2026 so you will see some picketing because of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement Sunday, CPKC said rail service would continue despite the strike.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter spending months bargaining in good faith, CPKC is disappointed that a work stoppage could not be prevented,\u201d the statement reads.<\/p>\n

\u201cCPKC has presented a fair and balanced proposal with wage and benefit increases consistent with collective agreements currently in place with all our other unions across Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Sign<\/p>\n

Both CPKC and the union said they expect no interruption to rail service.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat our withdrawal of services is going to do is it\u2019s going to impact the company\u2019s ability to expedite their freight shipments,\u201d Sommer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe speed on the network, it\u2019s going to slow it down, but it\u2019s not going to stop it, and it\u2019s certainly not going to undermine safety in any way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The union said the strike is backed by a 96 per cent mandate vote from its members.<\/p>\n

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Malak<\/p>\n

Malak Abas
Reporter
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Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg\u2019s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sixty unionized signals and communications workers employed by Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited railway in Winnipeg are on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-709556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}