BLET Ratifies Keolis/VRE Agreement
Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
(VRE Photograph Courtesy of BLET)
Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) have ratified a new five-year contract with Keolis Rail Services Virginia.
The contract ratification vote took place in November.
The new agreement runs through 2025 and governs rates of pay and health care benefits for 11 locomotive engineers who run commuter rail trains for Virginia Railway Express (VRE). Keolis has been operating VRE, which serves the Northern Virginia suburbs and downtown Washington, D.C., since 2010.
The agreement includes full retroactive payments dating to 2021, BLET reported Dec. 1. It provides general wage increases compounded at 22.2% over the life of the agreement: 2% in 2021, 5% in 2022, 5% in 2023, 4% in 2024, and 4.5% in 2025. Additionally, there are no work rule changes, and membership contributions to health and welfare will be capped beginning in 2025.
The negotiating team comprised General Chairman Mark B. Kenny, Vice General Chairman Patrick W. Darcy Jr., and Division 14 Local Chairman Jamie Wooldridge.
