Train dispatchers ratify labor pact; BLET ratifies agreements with BNSF

American Train Dispatchers Association (ATDA) members have ratified the recent tentative agreement between the union and major freight railroads, the National Carriers' Conference Committee announced yesterday.

ATDA is now the fourth union to ratify the agreement resolving the current national bargaining round. ATDA members voting on the agreement work at the Belt Railway Co. of Chicago, BNSF Railway Co., Conrail, CSX, Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern Railway, Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis and Wisconsin Central Ltd.

The ATDA members will immediately receive a 14.1% pay increase, and within 45 to 60 days they will receive retroactive pay averaging $14,500, and $3,000 in service recognition bonuses, union officials said in a prepared statement.

The NCCC has been representing the freight railroads in their negotiations with 12 rail labor unions that represent a combined 115,000 workers. Tentative agreements with eight other unions have yet to be ratified, NCCC officials said in a press release.

Meanwhile, members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) have ratified an implementing agreement and Oregon Short Line Protective Agreement with BNSF for its resumption of service on the Montana Rail Link.

In January, the MRL announced it would terminate its lease with BNSF, with BNSF resuming operations on the line. The implementing agreement, negotiated by the BNSF/MRL General Committee of Adjustment with assistance from the National Division, governs BNSF’s hiring of the BLET-represented MRL employees, their seniority, work rules, pay, benefits and integration into the BNSF system, BLET officials said in a press release.

The implementing agreement and Oregon Short Line Protective Agreement govern about 500 BLET members currently working for the MRL.