(The Associated Press circulated the following on July 20.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A union representing Amtrak’s 1,300 locomotive engineers announced Friday that it has reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract with the passenger railroad.
Details were being withheld while union members were presented with the contract for ratification – a process that could take several weeks, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers spokesman John Bentley said.
An Amtrak spokesman also refused to discuss details of the contract.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers represents just some of Amtrak’s 10,000 employees who have been working under a contract that ended Dec. 31, 1999. About 5,000 more have been without an up-to-date agreement since the end of 2004.
“I think it’s significant,” Bentley said of the tentative deal. “They’ve been without a contract for seven or eight years.”
He said changes in Amtrak’s leadership and uncertainly surrounding year-to-year funding have made negotiations difficult.
Under the Railway Labor Act, designed to keep the rail and aviation industries moving, contracts do not really expire even after their terms have ended. Without a new contract, workers are entitled only to small, automatic wage increases equal to half the increase in the cost of living.
Back pay has been a sticking point in negotiations, union officials have said.