A labor dispute in Skagway between White Pass Yukon Route and its rail workers has ended. On wednesday (7/26), both parties signed an agreement that will keep the trains going and the workers on the job.
Rail workers for the White Pass & Yukon Route have sought a wage increase to keep up with the cost of living in Skagway.
Guiler: “Negotiations began six years ago.”
Jason Guiler works on the company’s trains, taking tourists through the mountains and into Canada. He switches between positions, sometimes he is the engineer, sometimes the brakeman, or the conductor. He is also the union representative for the more than 25 people who work the same positions. He has taken part in the negotiations with their employer.
Guiler: “It started at the end of 2017, and with such a change that has happened in our environment, with COVID, and with the sale of the organization in 2018, and obviously there have been several factors that have allowed for that delay all the way until now.”
Guiler says the workers had not gotten a raise in over six years.
So earlier this month, they voted to go on strike if their demands were not met.
But there was another sticking point..
Tyler Rose is the executive director at WP&YR.
Rose: “What we were looking at was with technology, into the future, the potential of something through attrition.”
Rose says the company considered phasing out the brakeman position on the train. He says that position could have been automated.
Guiler says the workers disagreed.
Guiler: “That brakeman role, that third individual on board the train, that is a critical one.”
He says with only three people responsible for the safety of up to 600 passengers, employees didn’t want to see that position eliminated.
Guiler: “Though automation works in some areas and has in some capacity been used in a freight line to success, [it] just doesn’t work when you add the human factor into it.”
Rose says the company conceded.
Rose: “It really is that balance between efficiencies and what makes sense, and managing the workforce in a positive way.”
Eventually the parties drafted an agreement. The brakeman position would remain, health benefits be maintained, and workers would see a wage increase.
Rose says he is pleased with the agreement.
Rose: “It’s a substantial wage increase that we are pleased with, and our employees are pleased with. We are just really happy to be moving forward with this.”
Guiler says an overwhelming majority of the workers voted in support of the agreement. It was signed and came into effect on Wednesday 26th.
Guiler: “We look forward to being able to work together and move into the future, resting assured knowing that we are going to be able to enjoy those successes together with the organization.”
The agreement will be up for review in 2027.