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Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) members at CN’s former Wisconsin Central (WC) territory recently ratified a new six-year agreement.

Covering about 300 CN-WC workers, the contract is retroactive to April 1, 2005, and expires on April 1, 2010. The pact calls for overall wage increases of 21.24 percent and renews an hourly rate agreement (vs. traditional mileage- and rule-based wage system agreement). BLET members at CN-WC were the first in the nation to ratify an hourly rate agreement in 2002, the union said.

The contract also improves health care benefits, work schedule assignments and job protections, such as by ensuring a locomotive engineer is assigned to every job, including remote control work.