Human Resources committee  You talk about smaller bargaining units. This is a team sport. You don't operate the railway by separate unions. You think about the T and E, who are technical people—our signalmen, for example, and crossing signals and the whole signalling system on the railway. It's not a very

Human Resources committee  Rail traffic controllers in downtown Edmonton who operate the network on a North American basis realize this. We have rail traffic controllers sitting in Edmonton who essentially dispatch trains across North America for CN. It's a very small union compared to other unions within

Human Resources committee  Obviously, when it comes to movement of grain in Canada, there are two railways, but as you know, we don't all service the same attachment point. It would be difficult. There's no doubt that you could shut down the movement of grain in Canada by not having grain being moved for a

Human Resources committee  We have not recently. Again, in the first three strikes, back-to-work legislation was not an issue.

Human Resources committee  No, it wasn't an issue then. In 2004, we reflected on it, mostly for GO Transit or for the transit authority in Montreal. To be able to do so, either the federal minister does so or the shipper can do so. A customer cannot, but I'll come back to that in a second. More important

Human Resources committee  Clearly we will always do what we can to make sure we serve the customers and not shut down a port. By using managers and retirees, you know...who knows what will happen in the future? That's one of the issues, obviously. We also have unionized clerks who prepare waybills and c

Human Resources committee  Experience has shown that in the railway industry—and I'll come back to this again—the impact of shutting down a railway to Canada's economy would be enormous. But more important is the previous speaker's comment, that the impact on customers would be enormous. Imagine Alcan in

Human Resources committee  Broader than that, Canadian companies have to have the possibility, other than just to maintain their assets, to make sure they can serve their customers and maintain the economy. That's why, in 1999, when the Canada Labour Code was amended, Mr. Sims clearly did not go to that

Human Resources committee  It is. We cannot bring in people off the street. As you know, the issue under the current bill is that managers would be considered replacement workers. So even though you have qualified workers—

Human Resources committee  In the last draft you prohibited the use of managers to do the work.

Human Resources committee  We're not before the board right now.

Human Resources committee  No. Essentially, if we can demonstrate that for the purposes of health and safety some of our services should be deemed essential, we would go before the board, but historically we have not been successful in that area. The argument would be for GO Transit and AMT. We could make

Human Resources committee  First of all, I wouldn't want to comment on the current negotiations. They're ongoing, as we speak. I want to make sure that this afternoon I do not in any way comment on the fact that CN and the UTU are in the context of negotiations. We'll do anything we can to avoid a railway

Human Resources committee  They have to be trained. In the case of carmen, they have to be trained to fix a railcar in a safe and prudent fashion.

Human Resources committee  Well, carmen are trained to make sure, when they look at cars coming in from foreign railways or their own railways, that they fit the standards. Railway cars are somewhat complex. It's the same with locomotives. These people receive training within the railway itself. When we h