Railroad labor unions have rejected a proposal by railroad management to give union workers advance payments that would be expected to be due under a future collective bargaining agreement.
The proposal by the National Carriers’ Conference Committee would have paid workers advance payments of up to $600 per month.
After the unions turned down the offer, the NCCC said it would leave the offer on the table in case the unions changed their mind.
The advance pay proposal is similar to one that CSX reached recently with its workers who are members of the SMART Transportation Division.
In statements issued following their rejection of the NCCC advance pay proposal, unions described the offer as inadequate.
The 10 unions, which are represented by the Coordinated Bargaining Coalition, have been bargaining with the NCCC since January 2020.
Those talks were slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic and even in the best of circumstances it can take years to reach an agreement.
The talks are currently in mediation before the National Mediation Board, which earlier this month rejected a request by the SMART Mechanical Division and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division to be relieved of mediation with the NCCC.
The CBC in a statement accused the NCCC of not negotiating in good faith.
The statement cited how Class 1 railroads have reported record fourth quarter 2021 profits and record first quarter 2022 profits and then refused to withdraw their demands for work rule and health and welfare concessions.
“Even more ridiculous and unacceptable is their refusal to agree to meaningful wage increases while making record profits during the highest level of inflation seen in years,” the CBC statement said.
It said the NCCC offer of an advance pay hike would have to be repaid from any back pay payments that may be in the ultimate national contract settlement, and said the offer was somewhere between a loan and a pay day advance.
For its part, the NCCC said in a statement, “Rail employees work hard and deserve compensation increases that keep them among the best paid employees in the nation.”
The NCCC statement described the issues in the current collective bargaining talks as complex “and there is more work to be done before complete agreements can be finalized.”
Railway Age contributing editor Frank Wilner wrote on the trade journal’s website that it appears the unions are seeking release from mediation so that “they can set in motion Railway Labor Act provisions leading to a nationwide railroad work stoppage this summer.”