Rail labor news from IBEW, Keolis and Jobs to Move America (Dec. 19)

Members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) have ratified five-year tentative collective bargaining agreements with BNSF Railway Co. and CSX, and "narrowly" rejected an agreement with Norfolk Southern Railway, union officials announced today. "We look forward to working with BNSF and CSX and will continue to work on reaching a fair contract with Norfolk Southern as we enter national negotiations," said IBEW International President Kenneth Cooper in a press release.

Keolis Commuter Services (Keolis), the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's operating and maintenance partner for commuter-rail service, has reached amended labor agreements with an additional nine of the company’s 14 unions. The agreements, which still need to be ratified by members of each union, will be retroactive to July 1, 2023, according to a Keolis press release. The five-year agreements include paid sick leave, annual wage increases, unmatched health and welfare benefits, enhancements to the bereavement and vacation policy, and the addition of Juneteenth as a paid holiday. Earlier this year, Keolis and the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) reached an agreement that has been ratified by TWU’s membership. As a result, KCS has now settled with of 10 its 14 unions.

Jobs to Move America (JMA) and a coalition of unions this week called on the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority to release unredacted information related to its multibillion-dollar contract with Kawasaki Rail Car to manufacture subway cars. The request came as MTA's board moved to exercise a $1.3 billion option for the next batch of cars. JMA and the unions — including SMART and TWU Local 100 — have sought transparency on wages, benefits and training programs for workers manufacturing the cars at Kawasaki plants in New York and Nebraska. The unions and JMA have filed multiple Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests, and JMA filed a lawsuit a year ago to obtain withheld information. While MTA provided some documents, most were "so heavily redacted" they were unusable, JMA and the unions said in a press release. MTA spokesperson Laura Cala-Rauch provided the following statement in response to the latest transparency request: “As previously stated, while we are unable to comment on pending litigation, the MTA responds to FOIL requests in accordance with the law, which in some cases limits what may be released.”