UTU, TCU members ratify contracts

Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway (EJ&E) and Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway (TP&W) workers represented by the United Transportation Union (UTU) recently ratified new five-year agreements.

The EJ&E contract covers conductors, brakemen and yardmen at the CN subsidiary, which operates in Illinois and Indiana suburbs surrounding Chicago. The pact includes wage increases, back pay, an employment guarantee with furlough protection and other benefits, according to the UTU. The contract also establishes a 401(k) plan and disability insurance.

The ratified pact at the TP&W — a RailAmerica Inc. subsidiary that operates in Illinois and Indiana — provides wage increases with additional compensation for conductors certified as engineers, improved working conditions and other benefits.

Meanwhile, CN clerical workers who are represented by the Transportation Communications Union (TCU)/IAM ratified a new contract.

The pact covers clerks at CN and its following subsidiaries: the Wisconsin Central Railroad, Grand Trunk Western Railway, Illinois Central Railroad and Chicago, Central and Pacific Railroad. Workers will receive an immediate 8.8 percent wage increase, TCU/IAM officials said in a prepared statement.

“The new agreement mirrors the recent national freight agreement’s economic provisions, providing 20.1 percent in compounded general wage increases over the six-year contract period — Jan. 1, 2010, through Dec. 31, 2015,” they said. “The agreement [also] provides for a lump-sum payment equal to 1 percent of straight time earnings for the 12-month period from Nov. 1, 2010, through Oct. 31, 2011.”