A 13-month lockout of 109 onboard attendants is not keeping Rocky Mountaineer from expanding its service offerings.
The luxury rail tour company will offer two additions to its 2013 season, including:
•its first U.S. departure, dubbed the Coastal Passage, which will depart Seattle twice next summer (August 24 and 25) en route to Vancouver and then the Canadian Rockies; and
•a stop in Lake Louise as part of the First Passage to the West route, which takes passengers through a glacial valley surrounded by ice-capped mountains.
British Columbia Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair told Business in Vancouver that the Rocky Mountaineer lockout is continuing indefinitely because the employer can hire replacement workers – an option that’s prohibited under B.C. law for companies that are provincially regulated. (See "Union power being derailed" - April 17.)
Unions in other federally regulated sectors have similarly had a tough time winning any concessions from employers.
Ottawa tabled back-to-work legislation last year to end Canada Post’s contract dispute with 48,000 urban postal workers.
Labour Minister Lisa Raitt then made clear in March that she would step in to prevent any work stoppage at Air Canada while the airline negotiates contracts with disgruntled pilots, flight attendants and baggage handlers.
“Corporations in particular are feeling emboldened because the federal government is overtly landing on their side,” Sinclair said.
