VIA Rail, Unifor reach tentative agreements

VIA Rail Canada Inc. has reached tentative agreements for a two-year contract renewal of the collective agreements with Unifor, the union representing more than 2,400 VIA Rail employees in stations, maintenance centers, administrative offices and on board trains.

These tentative agreements are subject to a ratification vote by VIA Rail's Unifor members, VIA officials said in a press release.

In March 2020, because of the COVID-19 outbreak, VIA Rail and Unifor agreed to postpone the negotiations for the collective agreements that expired at the end of 2019. These negotiations covered Unifor 1 (off-train employees), Unifor 2 (onboard train employees) and Unifor 3 (shopcraft personnel).

The collective-agreement bargaining process resumed in Q4 2020.