Rail labor, carriers schedule early 2021 meetings

The Coordinated Bargaining Coalition (CBC) and rail carriers have slated additional meetings for early this year to address proposals for a voluntary labor agreement, CBC members announced last week.

The coalition, which represents several rail labor unions, and the rail carriers met throughout 2020, including through virtual meetings due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a CBC statement and press release issued by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, a coalition member.

"While CBC and the rail carriers continue to share and discuss all aspects of what would be necessary to reach a voluntary agreement, the rail carriers have not made any proposals worthy of consideration by the membership of the CBC unions," CBC leaders said in a prepared statement. "The parties will continue to meet in good faith as we move into 2021, fully cognizant that it is our members who must ratify any voluntary agreement."

Collectively, the CBC unions represent more than 105,000 railroad workers covered by the various organizations' national agreements, and comprise over 80% of the workforce that will be affected by this round of negotiations.