SMART-MD ratifies 5-year labor pact with BNSF

BNSF Railway Co. late last week announced members of the International Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART)-Railroad, Mechanical and Engineering Department voted to ratify a new five-year agreement with the Class I.

The contract calls for a 3.5% average wage increase per year over the next five years, offers employees more vacation earlier in their career and enhances health-care benefits, according to a BNSF press release.

The vote comes a month ahead of the opening of the next collective bargaining round, BNSF officials said. It also follows the ratification of BNSF labor agreements with the American Trains Dispatchers Association, the Transportation and Communications Union and Brotherhood of Railway Carmen.