Three unions seek federal mediation in CPKC pay, benefits dispute

Three rail labor unions on Feb. 12 requested National Mediation Board (NMB) assistance with stalled contract talks with CPKC, specifically over wages and health care for employees working on the former Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern (DM&E) lines.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District 19, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED) and the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS) have been bargaining as a coalition with CPKC since February 2025 under 19 collective agreements.

Canadian Pacific acquired the DM&E lines in 2008, but employees working on those lines remain excluded from the railroad industry's national health and welfare plan and earn about 10% less than CPKC's Soo Line workers and 12% less than workers on the former Kansas City Southern lines, the union officials said in a joint press release.

DM&E workers are the only U.S. craft employees at any Class I without coverage under the national plan or its equivalent, union officials said. The former DM&E lines run through Iowa and Missouri. When CP merged with KCS, employees on the DM&E lines were told wages would be raised to match those of the Soo Line's, but that has not happened, union officials said.

The coalition also seeks to address concerns about CPKC's proposed sick leave conditions and wages for employees working on CPKC's Delaware and Hudson lines. Additionally, CPKC's projected increase in U.S. craft jobs after the CP-KCS merger, which occurred 2023, has fallen flat, union officials said.

"CPKC leadership has publicly warned others to be skeptical of merger promises, yet they are breaking their own," said IAM District 19 President and Directing General Chair Reece Murtagh. "Our members are still waiting for the wage parity and benefits they were told would come with this merger."

CPKC officials issued the following statement in reaction to the unions' NMB request:

"In recent months CPKC has reached and seen ratified 17 new collective bargaining agreements (with two other tentative agreements reached and pending ratification) covering hundreds of employees working in 11 states across the CPKC network in the United States. We will continue to pursue agreements through direct engagement with IAM District 19, BRS and BMWED, with the assistance of mediators from the National Mediation Board. CPKC remains committed to bargaining in good faith with all our union partners."