Joining those striking workers on Manitoba Street along the perimeter of the CP Rail yards were family of the employees on Saturday.
“It speaks volumes,” local train conductor Mike Owens told the Times-Herald as he walked the picket line with his wife Tiffany and their two boys Thomas, 10, and 13-year-old Zachary. “The decisions (of CP) effect my entire family, not just myself.”
Mike said the nature of his work is such that he spends long hours away from home, and he must go on long trips when called with very little notice. According to his wife, the nature of her husband’s job definitely makes for some challenges at the Owens homestead.
“I schedule everything in my life as if I were a single mom,” she said.
With all the hardships the nature of being a conductor puts his family through, Mike doesn’t believe his family needs the added stress of worrying about his retirement, which is why he does not believe CP should cut his pension.
Many workers had family join them on the picket line on Saturday. In fact, 510 Teamsters Canada Rail Conference resident Bill Heath said there were too many people along Manitoba Street on Saturday for him to even count them all.
“We’ve got lots and lots,” he said, adding there were even a couple other unions showing up to support the Teamsters over the weekend, including CUPE workers.
For more on this story, read an upcoming edition of the Times-Herald.
