BMWED members ratify contract with Norfolk Southern

Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED) members who work for Norfolk Southern Railway have ratified a new labor agreement with the Class I in advance of the next collective bargaining around.

The ratified agreement provides a 3.5% average wage increase per year over the next five years. It also offers NS railroaders more vacation earlier in their career and makes improvements to workers' health care benefits, NS officials said in a press release.

The BMWED ratification vote follows successful votes by the American Train Dispatchers Association; the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers—Mechanical Department; the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen Division/TCU; and the Transportation Communications Union last month, NS officials said.

To date, NS has reached tentative agreements with nine of its 13 unions, covering nearly 65% of its craft workforce.