ViA Rail Warns Of Potential Service Interruption

USPA NEWS - VIA Rail Canada is advising travelers of a potential nationwide service interruption after receiving a 72-hour strike notice from Unifor, the union representing nearly 2,400 VIA employees.

Unifor said in a notice posted on it's website, " If an agreement cannot be reached by 12:01 a.m. on Monday, July 11, maintenance workers, on-board service personnel, chefs, sales agents and customer service staff will be on the picket line." Unifor indicated that a key issue is job security, and its members are frustrated as the employer "continues to push concessions and not work towards a fair and equitable collective agreement."

Martin R Landry, President and Chief Executive Officer said in a media release, “ VIA Rail has made every effort to reach an agreement with Unifor. We continue to talk with the union and remain committed to negotiating a fair and reasonable contract. Unfortunately, if no agreement is reached, VIA Rail will be forced to suspend all services for the duration of the strike and until normal operations can safely resume. We recognize that this would be a major disruption for our passengers and for communities across the country. This potential work disruption comes at a time when we have resumed nearly all of our services. We deeply regret that it will negatively impact our efforts to support the recovery of Canada's tourism industry and cut off the essential role we play in transporting Canadians, and connecting many remote communities including indigenous communities.”

Customers looking for more information about VIA Rail’s services during the work disruption or with individual inquiries concerning their travel plans are invited to visit our website at viarail.ca or call 1-888-VIA-RAIL.