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Yesterday, 3,173 out of 4,449 members of the Canadian Counsel of Railway Operating Unions (CCROU) voted 1,687-1,486 in favor of being represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), formerly Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers-Canada.

The vote dissolves CCROU, which comprised TCRC and the United Transportation Union. Last fall, UTU sought the representation election — affecting 4,449 Canadian Pacific Railway running trade workers — through the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB). Now, about 2,800 former UTU members now will be represented by TCRC.

"Teamsters Canada Rail Conference will shortly become the principal interlocutor during negotiation between CN, CPR and their workers," said Francois Laporte, assistant to Teamsters Canada President Bob Bouvier, in a prepared statement. "The era of divided workers in the railway industry is over; we are now united."

Although disappointed by the outcome, UTU International President Byron Boyd Jr. backed the unification efforts.

"The UTU always has had two goals — a single representative for operating employees and employee choice," he said in a statement. "Those goals were served here — they should be served everywhere in the U.S. and Canada."

TCRC recently applied for CIRB certification to represent CPR workers that now are members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes (BMWE). TCRC also plans to file an application with CIRB to represent Canadian National Railway Co. workers that are current BMWE members.