Roughly four months out from the formal start of contract negotiations, Norfolk Southern and BNSF jointly announced promising news: the two U.S. railroads reached tentative, five-year, collective barraging agreements with several unions. Altogether, the upcoming cycle of contract renewals covers about 30 percent of unionized NS workers and 15 percent of unionized BNSF workers.
The following unions reached agreements with the railroads:
- Brotherhood of Railway Carmen Division/TCU (BRC)
- Transportation Communications Union/IAM (TCU)
- International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers – Mechanical Department (SMART-MD)
- Several chapters of General Committees for the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers – Transportation Division (SMART-TD)
- American Train Dispatchers Association (ATDA)
The early agreements aren’t official, and will need to be ratified by union members, but nonetheless, they are pacts of good faith several weeks out from another round of labor negotiations in North America, a seemingly never-ending saga in the continent’s trade industries.
In a news release, NS and BNSF shared the agreements give employees “unprecedented certainty” about wages, health care benefits, and paid time-off.
The announcement went on to provide a basic understanding of the railroads’ wage proposal. The new contracts offer a 3.5-percent average wage increase per year over the next five years. The railroads added that health care benefits were given “meaningful enhancements”.
While the number of days wasn’t made available, the contracts are also said to offer more vacation, or time-off, to newer hires. Paid time-off, or PTO, a privilege that railroads have largely refrained from providing in the past, is also included in the proposals.
Union leaders lauded the agreements, showering praise of improvements to wages and benefits.
ATDA President Ed Dowell added, “This agreement proves that it doesn’t need to take years to reach a fair wage and healthcare agreement.”
While the union president didn’t directly mention other, more contentious, labor negotiations that remain ongoing as we speak, Dowell’s statement surely reminds stakeholders of how tormenting labor uncertainty can be.
A hasteful announcement, months before negotiations even start, emphasizes the urgency NS and BNSF likely have felt playing witness to a prolonged dispute between Canada’s railroads and their unionized labor force. From a strictly operational standpoint, the U.S. railroads’ rationale seems to be as such: bite the bullet and get on with it.
Service perspective: Canada’s rail dispute shines light on urgency for labor agreements
Despite Canada’s freight rail shutdown being short lived due to a binding arbitration order, the outstanding dispute between the country’s unionized labor and railroad companies is still alive and well.
The Canadian government had to forcibly intervene and order the two sides to the bargaining table through a patronizing legal process. While many believe that binding arbitration was the endgame behind the railroads’ decision to impose service lockouts, the same cannot be implied for the Teamsters rail union and its intention to strike. It values the disruptive action as a tool to coerce the railroads to accommodate their demands.
Amid binding arbitration, the blow to the union’s morale cannot be understated. Teamsters Canada, now forbidden to engage in a freight rail strike, is undoubtedly sour.
Shortly after the shutdown seized, Teamsters Canada announced plans to sue the government order. However, the more immediate impact of the disenfranchised union may be between the lines—specifically, the lines of rank-and-file rail workers.
While railroad employees are not allowed to stage a strike and walk out, they can still be disruptive while on the job. Throughout the history of disgruntled laborers, an age-old tactic is the art of slowing down. They are still clocking in, helping to move freight on the tracks, but they supply less effort when doing so. Maybe, a task that normally takes a yardmaster or conductor ten minutes to do will actually take 30 minutes. Of course, these actions aren’t publicly announced nor endorsed by the union. Rather, they are coordinated within the covert channels of union ranks.
That said, even though a service shutdown is out of the picture, Canada’s rail industry has not cleared its labor hurdle. In fact, its labor force may even be more upset.
To what lengths are the railroads willing to go preserve the status quo of labor contracts? Is the concession of giving into union demands greater of a cost to them than service lockouts or government orders which antagonize their employees?
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