Locked Out CUPE Employees Raise Safety Issues

The Canadian Union of Public Employees is sounding the alarm about safety issues facing locked out workers of the Southern Railway.

A cell phone video shot last week shows the train being operated ‘dangerously’ by managers who were allegedly attempting to replace locked out employees. The video shows the train rolling through a crossing on Annacis Island, in the Lower Mainland, with no headlights or front ditch lights turned on. There appears to be thick fog at the time and a manager is riding on the stairs leading the locomotive.

"This video raises concern about people with less experience running trains during the lockout," said CUPE 7000 president Bill Magri. "If this kind of thing keeps happening, someone is going to get hurt." The video footage was taken just after six p.m. on Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at a crossing just off the Annacis Channel bridge.

CUPE 7000 has reported the incident to the Safety Authority along with other incidents and has cited sections 17 and 19 of the Canadian Rail Operating Rules, which requires lights to be on at all times during a crossing.

"They need to drop the concessions and negotiate a fair collective agreement so that we can get these trains running properly again by the people who know how to operate them and stop putting public safety at risk," said Magri.

Southern Railway locked out 126 CUPE members on January 5^th, 2014 following the union’s rejection of its final offer. Since then the trains have been operated by approximately 20 of the company’s 34 managers. Southern Rail is owned by the Washington Group, which itself is owned by Montana billionaire Dennis Washington.