Via Rail has reached a tentative labour agreement with employees represented by Unifor and
avoided a national strike that would have halted its operations.
The new labour pact reached between the passenger rail company and union now needs to be
approved by 2,400 maintenance and frontline workers.
Unifor served 72-hour strike notice to Via Rail last week and was ready to launch a strike on
July 11. However, negotiations continued, and the strike deadline was extended.
Via Rail, which operates as a Crown corporation, said if the deal is approved by the union, it will
be retroactive to the start of this year and run through December 31, 2024. Terms of the deal
have not been disclosed but issues raised by Unifor included job security and wage increases.
Unifor claims to be Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing a total of 315,000
workers. Via Rail runs 500 passenger trains a week across eight Canadian provinces.
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