advertisement

---

United Steelworkers of America (UAW) officials are encouraging Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) members to reconsider their recent decision to certify the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), Maintenance of Way Division as the bargaining representative for 3,000 Canadian Pacific Railway MOW workers. The CPR workers previously were represented by the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes (BMWE).

"We believe the board should have ordered a vote between the Steelworkers and the Teamsters," said UAW National Director Ken Neumann in a prepared statement. "Such a vote would ensure that all BMWE members in Canada have a say in who they want to represent them in the workplace."

Teamsters officials have misrepresented UAW's role in working with Canadian BMWE members, Neumann believes. In its decision, the CIRB claims UAW did not obtain sufficient support from the CPR workers.

Teamsters officials told workers that "signing a Teamsters' union card would allow them to decide their future by way of a democratic vote, and that workers who want Steelworkers to represent them are holding up the processing of grievances and finalizing a collective agreement," said Neumann. "The CIRB must in all fairness reconsider its decision and order a vote."