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BLET members ratify national contract
CLEVELAND, January 5 — By a margin of better than 2-to-1, members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) today approved a new collective bargaining agreement with the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC).
The five-year agreement covers health & welfare and other fringe benefits for over 30,000 BLET members nationwide, and rates of pay and work rules issues for a smaller number. It includes general wage increases of 18.6 percent over the life of the agreement and a lump sum retroactive payment.
The agreement is retroactive to January 1, 2010, and covers locomotive engineers employed by the following railroads: Belt Railway of Chicago; BNSF Railway (H&W only); Conrail; CP Rail-US (Soo Line); CSX Transportation (H&W only); Indiana Harbor Belt; Kansas City Southern System (KCS/L&A, Gateway Western, MidSouth, South Rail, and Tex Mex); Longview Switching; Portland Terminal; Union Pacific Railroad (H&W only); and Winston-Salem Southbound. It also covers all train service employees on the Texas Mexican Railway.
The agreement largely reflects the recommendations of Presidential Emergency Board 243, which was appointed on the eve of a pending nationwide strike by BLET members. The PEB recommendations provided a better outcome for BLET members than the carrier’s proposal by recommending the phasing in of the larger portions of the health and welfare changes over an 18-month period, rather than instituting all of them immediately.
The BLET’s National Wage Committee, led by National President Dennis R. Pierce, then secured a Flexible Spending Account benefit to help offset any possible increased costs associated with the health and welfare, as well as a clarification to PEB 243’s ambiguous recommendation that a 1% signing bonus only be paid on an employee’s “straight time” earnings.
“I want to thank those who took the time to cast their vote. The BLET is a membership-driven union and our members show their strength every time they get involved,” National President Pierce said. “With the backing of a strong mobilization effort, we had a very solid turnout, considering balloting took place during the holiday season. With almost 70% of those voting casting a vote in favor of the agreement, it also is clear to me that our members took the time to study the issues before making a very careful choice.”
A copy of the agreement is available here:
www.ble-t.org/agreement/BLET-NCCC_Tentative_Agreement.pdf
A synopsis of the agreement is available here:
www.ble-t.org/agreement/BLET-NCCC_Tentative_Agreement_Synopsis.pdf
Thursday, January 05, 2012
bentley@ble.org
© 1997-2012 Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen
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