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3/13/2023
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) members last week ratified agreements with Canadian Pacific/Soo Line Railroad and Springfield Terminal Railway Co. (ST).
The five-year CP/Soo Line contract provides 22% general wage increases over the life of the contract — 3% retroactive for 2020, 3.5% for 2021, 7% for 2022, 4% for 2023 and 4.5% for 2024. The contract also calls for also five $1,000 annual lump-sum bonus payments and one extra personal leave day per year, BLET officials said in a press release.
When compounded, the general wage increase equates to 24% and will increase about 300 BLET members' hourly rate to $61.98 by September 2024, BLET officials said. The agreement becomes amendable Jan. 1, 2025.
Meanwhile, BLET members also ratified a New York Dock implementing agreement with the ST — a Pan Am Railways affiliate — and Pittsburgh and Shawmut Railroad LLC, doing business as Berkshire and Eastern Railroad (B&E), a Genesee and Wyoming Inc. subsidiary.
The agreement, which governs about 60 employees, addresses changes in operations at the railroads due to CSX's acquisition of Pan Am last year. The contract also sets forth the process to divide the workforce between ST and B&E, BLET officials said.
As a result of the acquisition, B&E will operate Pan Am's Southern 425 miles of rail lines between Ayer, Massachusetts, and Albany, New York.