CN Rail workers fear risk from lax safety, sanitation on trains, in buildings: union

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This article was published 02/04/2020 (2014 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — CN Rail staff in Winnipeg claim the railway uses shoddy sanitation measures on trains and company buildings, an issue union stewards are reporting across Canada.

“We need to be protecting essential workers, especially in the transportation sector, because at the moment our supply chains depend on them,” said Christopher Monette, spokesman for the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference.

Multiple CN employees based in Winnipeg have sent the Free Press photos, videos and audio clips that suggest lax cleanliness on trains and CN property. (The Free Press is not printing the photos to protect the identity of the employees who shared them.)

Last week in some Symington Yard stairwells, staff wiped cloths and napkins down indoor handrails that showed plenty of dirt.

They’ve filmed the same issue this week, with excessive dirt on indoor control switches.

Also this week, supervisors have told staff that locomotive cabins and belt packs on trains arriving from other provinces or the United States were been cleaned in the past 24 hours — but not between shift changes.

In some recordings, supervisors asked staff if they really need bottles of cleaning supplies, and why the provided wipes at their workspaces don’t suffice.

The staff can show they’ve been assigned tasks that exceed the physical-distancing rules the company has passed along from public-health officials.

Because the sources weren’t authorized to speak with media, the Free Press is withholding their names, and did not share these excerpts with CN Rail, which said it can’t fully respond without seeing that evidence.

However, the company insists it’s cleaning locomotives as soon as they arrive at interchange points such as Winnipeg, and leaving two packs of four large disinfectant wipes for each shift.

The Teamsters union said the CN bunkhouse in Rivers is among resting areas where staff are unsafely kept in tight quarters.

CN activated a pandemic plan on March 9, and said staff have been told to reduce by half the number of employees in rest facilities and crew vans.

The railway has made “a senior-level, cross-functional team” to procure and even make disinfectant fluids and supplies, while “increasing our capacity to move employees from one location to another, to help respect the physical distancing guidelines when travelling,” wrote spokesman Jonathan Abecassis.

“We have enacted all of these measures because we take the threat of COVID-19 very seriously. Our employees are at the heart of our company and they play critical roles.”

Monette said CP Rail was more responsive when the union raised concerns about inadequate cleanliness and physical distancing, while CN reacted only after TCRC issued a Monday press release. The railway did not dispute that.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau was not available for an interview. But his office wrote that Transport Canada has daily calls with the rail industry and unions, as well as federal border, health and labour officials.

The regulator has suspended some safety recertifications, in agreement with the Teamsters, to avoid congregating.

NDP MP Daniel Blaikie said he was worried about critical supply chains, and said CN should step up its collaboration with Ottawa and unions.

“We can’t afford CN to do down because there’s been a massive infection within its ranks,” he said. “So much is relying on national supply chains.”

The MP for Elmwood-Transcona said Ottawa should ensure rail companies have adequate sanitary supplies, and help with bulk purchases if not.

“There is a role for government here, not just to wag its finger,” he said, adding that lax cleanliness at Symington contribute to the spread of COVID-19 in the city.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca