CP conductor blamed for derailment to get job back

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This article was published 18/05/2018 (2857 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A federal regulator has ordered a Winnipeg rail conductor, who was fired for breaching safety protocol, be reinstated.

Canadian Pacific Railway fired Dan Lang after two incidents in September 2016 in which a train derailed and another stationary train was left on the tracks without its brakes on. Both incidents took place at the yard near the Old Exhibition Grounds.

The first incident took place on Sept. 3, during an overnight shift. Lang was operating a train too fast for its emergency brakes to stop it from side-swiping another train, which derailed.

The second took place Sept. 14. CP claimed Lang failed to apply handbrakes to any of the railcars that he left standing unattended.

CP fired Lang on Sept. 27, 2016.

In a May 9, 2018, decision by the Canadian Railway Office of Arbitration, Lang’s punishment was reduced to a seven-day suspension. CP was ordered to pay Lang’s salary for the almost 20 months he was out of a job.

Arbitrator Graham Clarke ruled that CP was “excessive” in firing Lang for the derailment, because it was his first major issue since joining CP in February 2007. He ruled Lang would learn from the incident.

He also ruled that CP failed to properly investigate the handbrake incident,  therefore Lang couldn’t be punished for it.

Another employee who was on shift at the time was also investigated. Neither was offered a chance to sit in while the other was interviewed, despite a long-standing union agreement saying they have a right to be present when “evidence may have a bearing on the employee’s responsibility.”

The other employee received a seven-day suspension.

CP claimed it conducted a “fair and impartial investigation,” but Clarke ruled the company “did not specify the factors on which it relied to support this statement.” He tossed out the derailment ruling “because of significant procedural flaws which CP, despite being put repeatedly on notice, decided not to remedy.”

The railway declined to be interviewed.

“CP does not comment on individual personnel decisions,” spokesman Jeremy Berry wrote.

Teamsters Canada Rail Conference did not respond to an interview request. Lang could not be reached for comment.

The regulator is an arm’s-length body that major railway companies formed 50 years ago. Companies and unions sometimes cut a deal that is different from the arbitrator’s ruling.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca

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