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Yesterday, VIA Rail Canada Inc. announced the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) issued a notice to launch a strike on Friday at noon (EDT) if the parties fail to negotiate a contract beforehand.

TCRC represents 340 VIA Rail locomotive engineers, who have been working without a contract since Dec. 31, 2006. Union members are seeking improved wages and benefits, schedules that provide two consecutive days off, and increased training — concessions that mostly are “quality-of-life issues,” according to TCRC President Dan Shewchuk.

A federal mediator has been appointed to assist the railroad and union during the negotiation process.

“We remain hopeful that an agreement will be reached before the set deadline,” VIA Rail officials said in a prepared statement. “Unfortunately, VIA has no choice but to begin to cancel certain departures of long-distance trains to ensure that passengers will not be stranded en route in the event of a strike.”

The affected train trips will remain cancelled until a settlement is reached, the railroad said. The Sudbury-White River and Victoria-Courtenay routes will remain in service because those trains are operated by third parties.