CSX announced Feb. 1 that it has reached agreements with four additional groups of railroad workers to provide paid sick leave benefits. The unions include Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Transportation
Union Pacific (UP) on March 22 reported reaching agreements with six additional labor unions to provide access to up to seven paid sick days, effective April 1.
BNSF on March 17 reported reaching an agreement with the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB) for paid sick leave.
More than three weeks after Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) No. 250 issued its recommendations on the stalled contract negotiations between 12 rail labor unions and the carriers, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division (BMWED) of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters; the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB); and the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Mechanical Department (SMART-MD) have reached tentative agreements with the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC), which represents most major railroads (and many smaller ones) in national collective bargaining.
CN and Kansas City Southern (KCS) on June 23 cited four letters by rail labor filed with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) in support of their proposed voting trust. Three of those letters, from local general committees of the same union, contradict the international’s position.
As ascendancy of jaw-jaw over war-war is making even a partial national rail work stoppage less probable, an agreement this week between the freight railroads and their second largest labor union has further decreased such concern.
