Five More Unions Reach Agreement With Freight Railroads WASHINGTON, July 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With the help of National Mediation Board Mediator Ernie DuBester, the nation's major freight railroads reached a tentative agreement Tuesday with five rail labor unions representing about 30,000 unionized employees. The agreements, which now go to members for ratification, would bring to 12 the number of unions that have reached agreements with the railroads. Negotiators for a coalition representing the five unions -- the Transportation Communications International Union (TCU), the Brotherhood Railway Carmen (TCU-Carmen), the Transportation Workers Union (TWU), the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM&AW) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) -- agreed on the new contracts in negotiations this week in Washington with the National Carriers' Conference Committee (NCCC), the bargaining agent for the railroads. In June, members of six other unions, part of the Rail Labor Bargaining Coalition (RLBC), ratified agreements with the railroads, setting a pattern for future settlements with the unions still in negotiations. Members of another RLBC union, the American Train Dispatchers Association, began voting again this month on the tentative agreement they narrowly rejected in June. In all, tentative or final agreements have now been reached with unions representing more than 96,000 or two-thirds of the 145,000 employees of Class I railroads covered in national bargaining. "The agreements with this coalition bring us closer to a successful voluntary resolution of negotiations with all unionized rail workers," NCCC chairman Robert F. Allen said. "This clearly demonstrates that collective bargaining works for the benefit of both employees and the railroads." Like the previous agreements, the new accords will provide rail employees with a generous package of wages and benefits that will keep them among the nation's best compensated industrial workers. In addition, the agreements include provisions that will help better manage health care costs that have risen over 130 percent since 1999. More than 30 railroads, including BNSF Railway, CSX Transportation, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific, have been engaged in national bargaining with the rail unions since the current round of negotiations began in November 2004. The National Carriers' Conference Committee represents the railroads in national (multi-employer) collective bargaining with the 13 major rail unions. National Carriers' Conference Committee CONTACT: Glen Williams of the National Carriers' Conference Committee, +1-202-862-7232 RAIL LABOR BARGAINING COALITION   George Francisco, Jr. Chairman For Immediate Release                                            Contact: George Francisco June 25, 2007                                                        (202) 962-0981   RLBC Unions Ratify Agreements with the NCCC Historic AgreementBest in a Generation for Rail Labor (Washington, DC) Six of the seven rail unions that make up the Rail Labor Bargaining Coalition (RLBC) have ratified their contracts with the National Carrier’s Conference Committee (NCCC). The RLBC represents seven rail labor unions whose contracts cover more than 85,000 rail workers or more than 50 percent of the carriers’ employees. The seven unions in the RLBC are American Train Dispatchers Association, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division, Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, National Conference of Firemen and Oilers/SEIU, and the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association. The NCCC is the carriers’ bargaining coalition representing the nation’s major railroads in national negotiations, including Union Pacific, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Norfolk Southern, CSX, Kansas City Southern, that transport most the rail freight in the country. The agreement includes general wage increases totaling 17 percent (18.2 percent compound­ed over the life of the agreement), which will remain effective until December 31, 2009. Negotiations concluded in May after two and a half years of bargaining, after which the unions submitted the tentative agreement to their members for ratification. The final results were received today. Of the seven RLBC member unions, just the American Train Dispatchers Association failed to ratify the agreement. “For the first time in a generation, a major portion of rail labor negotiated in solidarity,” said Fred Simpson, President of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED), “This agreement represents a historic achievement for rail labor. By standing together, we demonstrated to the carriers that their ‘divide and conquer’ strategy, in which they would pit one union against another to achieve the lowest common denominator, would no longer work.” “Our members will see increases in wages and a cap on health and welfare contributions. Together with the other members of the Rail Labor Bargaining Coalition we were able to keep the carriers at bay,” said Don Hahs, National President of the BLET. “I believe this con­tract is further evidence of the increased power rail labor has now that we have merged with -continued next page‑ 1023 15th Street, NW, 10th floor • Washington, DC 20005 • 202.962.0981 Tel • 202.872.1222 Fax Page 2, RLBC Unions Ratify Agreement with the NCCC the Teamsters Union and are a part of the Teamsters Rail Conference. With the support of the RLBC, we stopped the rail carriers’ outrageous and dangerous proposal to reduce train crew size to one person because it imperils the safety of rail workers and the communities they serve.” "These were difficult negotiations," stated Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen International President W. Dan Pickett. "The carriers were on the offensive throughout this entire process. The RLBC’s solidarity derailed the carriers’ all-out assault upon the wages, benefits, and work rules, and achieved the best contract we’ve gotten in decades." “The rail carriers have woken-up to the fact that there’s a new sheriff in town,” said John Murphy, Teamsters International Vice President and Director of the Teamsters Rail Conference with which the BLET and BMWED are affiliated. “The carriers are no longer dealing with a divided and splintered rail labor force. The rail unions stuck together through an extraordinarily difficult, multi-year process. We stopped the carriers from singling out the union with the most to lose and then forcing other unions to accept a so-called pattern agreement. When negotiations open up again in 2010, rail labor will be stronger and more united, and we will be positioned to achieve even greater gains for our members.” "This agreement proves the old adage that in unity there is strength," said RLBC Chair and President of the National Conference of Firemen and Oilers (SEIU) George J. Francisco, Jr. "Coalition bargaining led to a better contract and we were able to work with rail unions out­side of the RLBC as well." “From the legal counsel to the consultants we retained, the coalition demonstrated extraor­dinary value of solidarity,” Alan M. Scheer, Director of the Railroad Division of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers. “Together we achieved far more than we could have separately. That is the power of the RLBC.” “By sticking together and holding firm through a very difficult and trying process, we were able to secure our best contract in a generation,” Dewey B. Garland, Director of the Railroad and Shipyard Department of the Sheet Metal Workers International Association. “This is the power of rail solidarity.” The contract gives up no work rules, raises net wages over 16 percent after cost sharing for Health & Welfare (H&W), caps employee H&W contributions, expands access to in-network medical benefits for most of the 25 percent of rail employees previously denied them, and provides no concessions on contracting out or the carriers’ work exit demands.