CP Rail negotiations continue as strike deadline nears

Last-minute negotiations are continuing between Canadian Pacific Railway and two of its unions in the hopes of averting a weekend strike.

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Both Unifor, which represents safety and maintenance workers, and the Teamsters Canada Rail conference union, representing locomotive engineers and other train workers, have issued strike notices with a deadline of midnight Saturday.

A strike would put approximately 5,000 workers off the job and could hamper both freight and passenger train service across the country.

A Unifor spokesman said Saturday morning that several key issues remain to be settled but that he was cautiously optimistic of reaching a deal before the deadline.

Federal Labour Minister Kellie Leitch is in Montreal to take part in the negotiations.

She has declined to speculate what action the government would take in the case of a strike.