Union Had Demanded More Paid Sick Days

The negotiating team representing railroad management said on Thursday that a railroad labor union whose members rejected a tentative contract offer is seeking additional paid sick days.

The National Carriers Conference Committee told negotiators for the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters that the railroads would not agree to that demand.

On Thursday the NCCC, which represents railroad management, issued a statement saying the demands made by the union were similar to those considered and rejected by a presidential emergency board, which in August had issued recommendations for a new contract.

The PEB had been appointed after the talks for a new contract had reached an impasse.

The NCCC statement describes the wage and benefits recommended by the PEB and included in the tentative contract offer rejected by the maintenance workers as “the most generous wage package in almost 50 years of national rail negotiations.”

The NCCC statement went on to say that the union has taken the stance that railroaders are not allowed to take sick leave, which the NCCC said is a premise that is “easily disproven.”

“Rail employees can and do take time off for sickness and have comprehensive paid sickness benefits starting, in the case of BMWED-represented employees, after four days of absence and lasting up to 52 weeks,” the NCCC statement said.

The statement went on to say that past collective bargaining agreements reflected the agreement by union and management alike that “short-term absences would be unpaid in favor of higher compensation for days worked and more generous sickness benefits for longer absences.”

In ratification voting, 43 percent of the maintenance workers favored accepting the tentative agreement.

Members of six other railroad labor unions have voted to accept the contract while the ratification process continues at five other unions. The ratification process is not expected to be completed before Nov. 17.

The maintenance workers union leadership has suggested that its members might strike on or after Nov. 19.

Railway Age magazine reported that the maintenance workers union leadership has recommended that its members contact their members of Congress to express the need for more paid sick days.

“The push for paid sick time off could potentially lead to Congressional action,” the union said. “While we hope the carriers will acknowledge the concerns of their employees and negotiate with us, it is important that we are prepared for their unwillingness to address quality of life concerns.”

A report written by the magazine’s Washington correspondent Frank Wilner said the Nov. 19 date for a strike would fall during a time when many members of Congress will not be in Washington to vote on legislation to end a work stoppage.

Wilner said it may also be a transition time with control of Congress set to change in early January as a result of the early November elections.

“Many members who were defeated or are retiring will be negotiating new employment with lobbying and law firms—a Washington ‘revolving door’ tradition,” Wilner wrote. “There will be incentive for many to double-down on pro- or anti-labor images, or avoid choosing sides and not vote. In short, lame-duck sessions are the worst of times for such a rail work stoppage to occur.”

Trains magazine reported on its website that railroads and their unions are still completing the details of a clause in the tentative agreement requiring railroads to pay some job-related travel expenses.

That report quoted Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz as saying that once union members have more details on how travel expenses will be handled that it is likely union members will approve the tentative contract.

Tags: Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division, contract negotiations, Labor contracts, labor disputes, labor unions, National Carriers Conference Committee, railroad labor contract talks, Railroad union contracts