TCU members ratify Providence and Worcester agreement

Transportation Communications International Union (TCU) members employed at Providence and Worcester Railroad Co. recently ratified a new eight-year agreement by an overwhelming margin.

The pact calls for a 24 percent compounded wage increase over the eight years, according to TCU. The general wage increases include a 0.5 percent raise retroactive to July 15, 2013, and a 2.25 percent raise effective July 15, 2014. Future pay hikes are scheduled at 3 percent each year on July 15, from 2015 to 2020.

The agreement also provides members a signing bonus and, for the first time, time-and-a-half pay on relief days. In addition, members hired after 2000 will receive two additional sick days per year, and cost sharing on health care for all members starts at 0.5 percent as of July 15, 2014, and is frozen at 2.75 percent as of July 15, 2019.

TCU represents all clerical employees at the Providence and Worcester, which operates more than 500 miles of track in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island.