CPKC railroad lags peers in offering sick time and now some dispatchers will have to forfeit it

By JOSH FUNK
AP Business Writer

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Not only is CPKC lagging the trend of major freight railroads agreeing to provide paid sick time to most of their workers. Now some of its dispatchers will lose the benefit later this year when they move to the merged railroad’s new U.S. headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri. Rail unions estimate that less than 10% of CPKC’s workers have paid sick time compared to nearly 90% across all six of the biggest freight railroads. Before last year, rail workers largely accepted that they never had paid sick time but that has been changing as part of the railroads’ effort to address some of the quality-of-life concerns that drove the industry to the brink of a strike in 2022.