VIA RAIL REACHES TENTATIVE AGREEMENTS WITH UNIFOR

Montréal, January 30, 2021 – VIA Rail Canada (VIA Rail) 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, on board trains, in maintenance centres and administrative offices.

These tentative agreements are subject to ratification vote by VIA Rail’s Unifor members.

“We are pleased to have reached these agreements and look forward to their ratification,” said Patricia Jasmin, interim Chief Employee Experience Officer. “This encouraging step reflects the commitment and hard work both parties have demonstrated throughout this process.”

In March 2020, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, VIA Rail and Unifor agreed to postpone the negotiations for the collective agreements, that expired on December 31, 2019, with Unifor 1 (off-train employees), Unifor 2 (onboard train employees) and Unifor 3 (shopcraft personnel). The usual collective agreement bargaining process then resumed in Q4 2020.

Please note that details of the agreements will only be released following ratification by members.

 

About VIA Rail

As Canada’s national rail passenger service, VIA Rail (viarail.ca) and all its employees are mandated to provide safe, efficient and economical passenger transportation service, in both official languages of our country. VIA Rail operates intercity, regional and transcontinental trains linking over 400 communities across Canada, and about 180 more communities through intermodal partnerships, and safely transported over 5 million passengers in 2019. The Corporation has been awarded five Safety Awards and three Environment Awards by the Railway Association of Canada since 2007. Visit the “About VIA Rail” section at https://www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-rail.