Canadian Pacific guilty of contempt of court over long work shifts – business news

A federal judge ruled Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. found guilty of contempt of court for excessively long hours.

In a period of ten months in 2018 and 2019, the railway operator failed to comply with a cease-and-desist order from an arbitrator in 22 cases, the judgment says.

The orders concerned rest provisions under federal regulations and two collective bargaining agreements for conductors and engineers, which largely limit shifts to 10 or 12 hours, depending on the circumstances.

“CP’s own evidence was that thousands of situations continue to arise each year where employees do not have 10 hours off,” Judge Ann Marie McDonald wrote, citing the labor arbitrator.

The railway did not argue that the situations were exceptions set out in the collective agreement, the arbitrator explained in March 2018.

François Laporte, President of Teamsters Canada, said the company “must get smarter and stop putting profits before people before there is another tragedy.”

“Canadian Pacific is recklessly putting lives at risk by forcing so many train attendants to work overtime,” Laporte said in a statement Wednesday.

The Calgary-based company was disappointed by the verdict.

“We disagree with the court’s decision out of respect and will appeal,” spokesman Patrick Waldron said in an email.

The June 6 decision comes less than two months after a Canadian Pacific freight train was derailed by floods in Maine that burned locomotives and four derailed lumber cars.

The railway line is the same as that on which the deadly Lac Mégantic disaster occurred in 2013. Canadian Pacific did not own the line at the time.