Rail signalmen reject tentative labor agreement

Members of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS) voted to reject ratification of the tentative agreement with the major U.S. freight railroads, union officials announced yesterday.

The BRS represents more than 6,000 members affected by the negotiations. Of those voting, 39.23% voted to approve the agreement; 60.57% voted to reject it, BRS officials said in a press release.

The BRS negotiated this round of bargaining as a member of the Coordinated Bargaining Coalition and later the United Rail Unions, which eventually comprised all rail unions with members under national handling. Collectively, the coalitions represented over 115,000 rail workers. The National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC) represents the railroads in collective bargaining. 

"For the first time that I can remember, the BRS members voted not to ratify a national agreement, and with the highest participation rate in BRS history," said BRS President Michael Baldwin. "I have expressed my disappointment throughout the process in the lack of good-faith bargaining on the part of the NCCC, as well as the part [Presidential Emergency Board] PEB 250 played in denying BRS members the basic right of paid time off for illness."

The BRS is the second major union to vote down ratification. Earlier this month, members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division voted against ratification.

The NCCC and BRS have agreed to maintain the status quo period until early December. As such, the failed ratification does not present risk of an immediate service disruption, NCCC officials said in a press release.

"We are disappointed that the [BRS] has failed to ratify the recent tentative agreement with the nation’s freight railroads, delaying the benefits of the tentative agreement for BRS-represented employees and further extending resolution of the bargaining round with BRS," NCCC officials said.

The agreement called for the largest wage package in nearly five decades, maintained rail employees’ “platinum-level” health benefits, and added an additional day of paid time off, they said.

So far, six labor organizations have ratified the tentative agreement.