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hallo

Via Rail on track for strike

Talks break off with locomotive engineers; company says that barring a last minute resolution, it will cancel all service across the country at noon ET

wer da eine reise gebucht hat sollte sich rechtzeitig erkundigen

Zitat

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Montreal — The Canadian Press Last updated on Friday, Jul. 24, 2009 05:57AM EDT

Thousands of travellers across the country will likely need to find another way to get to their destinations if they are travelling by train.

Locomotive engineers at Via Rail appear to be headed for a strike Friday after the collapse of negotiations with the rail service.

The company said barring a last minute resolution, it will cancel all service across the country at noon ET, the deadline set by the engineers for a settlement.

Via, which carries nearly 12,000 passengers a day, had already cancelled some departures this week in anticipation of a walkout – including trains leaving early Friday morning from Halifax.

The 340 engineers are represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union and have been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2006.

Union officials were not immediately available for comment following the collapse of talks.

“Despite intense negotiations over the past four days, the parties were unfortunately unable to reach an agreement, and the negotiations are currently at an impasse,” Via said in a statement.

A federal mediator was appointed to assist in the contract talks in Montreal and the two sides had maintained until Friday they were hopeful an agreement could be reached.

Canada's tourism industry said a strike would be bad news and predicts it will have a ripple effect on businesses.

A strike now would come during one of the busiest travelling periods of the year, disrupting summer vacation plans and hurting Canadian tourism operators who are already struggling amidst an economic slowdown.

A strike would just be the latest of a series of challenges that have hammered the tourism industry, including new visa requirements for Mexicans and people from the Czech Republic, and passport requirements for U.S. travellers.

Even without a strike, the industry expected tourism would be down about 5 per cent this year.

The railway last faced a strike in 1995, when conductors from a different union were off the job for a week.

Every week, Via operates 503 intercity, transcontinental and regional trains linking 450 communities across its 12,500-kilometre route network.

Up to 85 per cent of its business is between Quebec City and Windsor.

While many travellers may be able to find alternatives in the well-serviced corridor, options are more limited in remote areas serviced by the passenger railway system, said David Jeanes, president of Transport 2000.

This includes small intermediate locations that aren't on bus routes, or in remote areas in northern Ontario, between Winnipeg and Hudson's Bay, and in Quebec.

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/nati...article1229687/

update

der streik ist gestartet

Zitat

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After talks went off the rails between locomotive engineers and yardmasters and Via Rail last night, most passenger rail service across Canada has been shut down at the height of tourism season.

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Irgendwo versteh ich die Lokfuehrer schon, die waren 2 1/2 Jahre ohne Vertrag. Schade fuer die Urlauber, das ist echt fies, wenn man ankommt und alle Plaen sind ueber den Haufen geworfen. Greyhound und Porter (lokale Airline) probieren ein wenig aufzufangen, Porter gibt sogar 25% Rabatt! Via erstattet saemtliche Tickets (auch Discounts).

Via ist spaetestens Montag wieder in "full service". War ein kurzer Streik.