The tentative labor contract reached early Thursday morning that averted a railroad work stoppage was reached after both sides made concessions during intense bargaining that occurred after midnight as U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh intervened.
The concessions largely dealt with work rules and the 24 percent compounded wage increase over the five years of the contract that the parties agreed upon largely mirrors the recommendation of a presidential emergency board.
A statement issued by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, and the SMART Transportation Division, indicated that workers will receive “the largest wage increases in more than 45 years while holding the line on insurance costs and co-pays and addressing scheduling issues.”
The union statement said the latter includes providing for time off. “For the first time, our unions were able to obtain negotiated contract language exempting time off for certain medical events from carrier attendance policies,” the statement said.
Another hot button issue, crew size, was somewhat addressed in the tentative agreement, although the unions sought to frame that as a matter of taking “the crew consist issue off the table.”
Railroads want to restructure the jobs of conductors by making most of those positions ground-based jobs in which individual conductors would be responsible for multiple trains over a defined geographic area.
Unions have adamantly insisted that every road train have a conductor and engineer onboard.
The tentative agreement will now be submitted to BLET and SMART-TD members for ratification.
The Railway Age report noted that the contract “sweeteners” reached by BLET and SMART-TD also will be applied to other tentative agreements.
This would apply to contracts already ratified by two unions, the Transportation Communications Union/IAM, and the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen, and rejected by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 19.
Presumably the latter will submit the amended agreement to another ratification vote by its members.
Six unions that had reached tentative agreements with the NCCC were still in the ratification process and the “sweeteners” will apply to there contracts.
Yet another union, the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, was still at the bargaining table along the BLET and SMART-TD
One report indicated that the signal workers union’s negotiating team had agreed to a tentative pact with NCCC, but the union’s leadership refused to endorse it or submit it to members for ratification.
Ratification by any of the unions of the latest tentative agreement is not a sure thing, thus the threat of a strike and/or lockout could re-emerge several weeks from now.
In a statement, the Association of American Railroads said upon ratification of the contract union members will be paid, on average, $11,000 per worker in back pay because the contract terms are backdated to 2020.
The tentative contract, if ratified, will extend through 2024. Under federal labor law, railroad contracts never expire, but can be amended.
The BLET and SMART-TD statement said the tentative agreements provides for voluntary assigned days off for road train crews and an additional paid day off.
“Most importantly, for the first time ever, the agreement provides our members with the ability to take time away from work to attend routine and preventative medical [appointments], as well as exemptions from attendance policies for hospitalizations and surgical procedures,” the statement said.
The unions claimed they were able to block the desire of railroad management “to fast-track arbitration on crew consist agreements.”
This will mean two-person crews will continue for the indefinite future, the unions said.
However, the unions conceded on the demands that railroad drop attendance polices that unions had described as “draconian.”
Nor were the unions able to achieve their goal of creating predictable work schedules.
These two issues will instead be subject to “local handling.”
Aside from the involvement of Labor Secretary Walsh, President Joseph Biden also made calls to both side to apply pressure to reach an agreement.
Also participating during the overnight bargaining were Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, and National Mediation Board member Linda Puchala.
The last railroad work stoppage occurred in the early 1990s.
In the wake of the announcement of a tentative agreement, railroads began cancelling freight embargoes and again accepting intermodal, security-sensitive, and hazardous cargo shipments.
Norfolk Southern sent a notice to shippers that it has reopened all gates effective immediately.
To read more about the tentative agreement visit https://www.railwayage.com/freight/class-i/no-work-stoppage-for-now/
Tags: contract negotiations, contract talks, labor agreements, Labor contracts, labor disputes, labor unions, railroad labor contract talks, Railroad labor unions, Railroad union contracts
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