Train conductors and other freight rail employees stand to gain a 24 percent wage increase through 2024, with 14 percent front loaded under a proposal by the Presidential Emergency Board tasked with helping to resolve a contract dispute and avoid a strike.
“It is in the best interests of all stakeholders — including customers, employees, and the public — for the railroads and rail labor organizations to settle this dispute and prevent service disruptions,” the National Carriers Conference Committee, representing the railroads, reportedly said.
Officials working on behalf of major outfits such as BNSF, Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, CSX, and others, indicated they were prepared to tweak the emergency board’s recommendations and sign a new deal. The 12 unions negotiating on behalf of 115,000 workers didn’t respond quickly for comment. Although the wage increase would reportedly exceed what freight railroad company offers, management would not necessarily cure working condition grievances.
The emergency board provided a 124-page report to the White House and relevant stakeholders calling for a 3 percent retroactive increase for 2020 and 3.5 percent for 2021. Railroad workers continued to fulfill their duties without a contract during that period, as negotiations dragged on fruitlessly. The proposed settlement also calls for five $1,000 bonuses and another paid day off. All told, railroad workers would receive approximately $11,000 in back pay and enjoy an average salary of $110,000 in the final year of the contract.
“While the Biden PEB (Presidential Emergency Board) recommendations markedly exceed the rail carriers’ proposal, they provide a useful basis to reach a resolution,” Ian Jefferies, head of the Association of American Railroads, reportedly said. “In the interests of all rail stakeholders, now is the time for railroads and their unions to reach a contract. The industry is prepared to propose agreements based on the PEB’s recommendations to provide our employees with long-overdue pay increases and avert rail service interruptions.”
Railroad workers already anticipated they would receive substantial raises in the face of 40-year-high inflation. As essential workers, they stayed on the job during the pandemic, and company policy routinely puts them on call 24-7.
In recent years, the railroads eliminated upward of 45,000 positions by having conductors pull more cars per run. Overworked and troubled that freight railroad officials’ contract caveat to reduce two-person conductor crews to one, union members already have grave concerns about existing conditions.
“It’s clear academic, politically motivated labor mediators are out of touch with the reality of working conditions on the railroad today. They chose capital over the needs of workers and our nation,” Union Pacific engineer Ross Grooters reportedly tweeted, a city council member in Pleasant Hill, Iowa.
Rail workers have also gone on the record grieving the practice of displacing people from their community, requiring employees to take positions far away from where they were hired. Although the proposal brings union and management closer in terms of financial compensation, working conditions could prove a sticking point.
Sources:
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/peb-provides-wage-increase-guidance-to-railroads-unions
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/railroads-back-plan-calling-for-24-percent-raises-but-workers-wary
https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2022-08-16/bidens-emergency-board-delivers-recommendations-on-railroad-labor-dispute
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