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Bargaining and the Future of VIA Rail
Last week, the federal government announced a high-speed rail project in the Toronto–Quebec City corridor, marking a significant shift toward privatization in Canada’s passenger rail system. Instead of strengthening VIA Rail as a publicly accountable passenger rail service, the government has handed over control to private, for-profit interests.
We know what this means—an assault on good unionized jobs, deteriorating working conditions and a direct threat to the stability of Canada’s public passenger rail system.
Unifor is not standing idly by.
The project, now named Alto, is being managed by a Crown corporation that exists only to oversee the Cadence consortium—made up of CDPQ Infra, AtkinsRéalis (formerly SNC-Lavalin), Keolis, SYSTRA, Air Canada, and SNCF Voyageurs.
This translates to public funds being used to build a system that will strip public oversight and hand the corridor over to private operators.
On the same day we opened bargaining with VIA Rail, the government announced that the winning bidder must submit two proposals: one for High-Frequency Rail (HFR) and one for High-Speed Rail (HSR). These developments raised immediate concerns for our bargaining committee. We sought clarity from the federal government and received no clear response.
This week, VIA Rail called an urgent meeting with our committee to tell us that while the HSR project is in a six-year co-development phase, there is supposedly no immediate impact on VIA corridor service and no immediate handover of operations.
But here’s the truth: VIA Rail has admitted it has no control over this process.
They told us that Alto is a separate and distinct company and that only the federal government can protect workers and our bargaining rights.
This means Unifor must intervene directly with the government to demand real protections for our members. We will not allow the government to sidestep its responsibility.
Bargaining with VIA Rail continues the week of March 24 and Unifor will not back down.
We are fighting to secure strong contract language that guarantees job security and bargaining rights, regardless of what happens with Alto.
Our members deserve stability, fairness, and a government that stands with workers—not corporate profits.
In solidarity,
Council 4000 & Local 100 Master Bargaining Committees
