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1/12/2022
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) has reached a tentative contract agreement with commuter railroad Metra.
The tentative agreement governs rates of pay and work rules for approximately 175 members, BLET officials said in a press release.
Ratification ballots were mailed to members Jan. 7. BLET’s Metra locomotive engineers serve more than 100 communities with 242 stations in the Chicago area.
Meanwhile, a U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, last week ruled against the BLET and the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART-TD) in a case involving the unions’ preliminary motions to stop Metra’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
In filing for the injunction, the unions argued that Metra had no authority, under the Railway Labor Act, to enforce the mandate without first negotiating its terms with the unions, BLET officials said in a press release.