MONTREAL, (Jan. 17, 2005) — Days after it reached a collective agreement with one union, Canadian National Railway faces a strike mandate by 3,500 train and yard service workers being represented by the United Transportation Union.

The UTU announced today that it was not able to reach a renewed collective agreement with the railway and will proceed to seek a strike mandate from its membership.

Last week, CN reached an agreement with 2,250 members of the Steelworkers’ Local 2004, which was representing track maintenance workers. The deal also included a contract for United Transportation Union brakemen and conductors in Quebec. A mail-in vote on the agreement will take place over the next several weeks.

Talks between CN and UTU for workers outside Quebec broke down this weekend. The Union says that the issues impeding a settlement aren’t about money, but concern basic “quality of life” principles such as vacations, allowances, seniority lists, company disciplinary policies and other such items.

But even if a strike mandate is voted on, it’s unlikely CN services would be shut down. The Canadian Industrial Relations Board has established minimal levels of train service that must be implemented during a strike or lockout of train crews or engineers.

In February 2004, 5,000 CN Rail clerical, customer service, and intermodal yard employees — about one third of CN’s total workforce — went on strike for nearly a month.