CLEVELAND, December 30 — By a 93 percent majority, BLET members have ratified a Letter of Agreement with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway that provides for a 3 percent General Wage Increase (GWI) effective January 1, 2015.
The letter governs approximately 7,500 locomotive engineers across the BNSF system and ballots were counted on December 29, 2014. The Letter of Agreement provides the 3 percent GWI and establishes a transition from on-property bargaining with BNSF to National Handling in the upcoming round of contract negotiations starting in 2015.
The BLET settled its wage and work rule issues with BNSF in the last round of bargaining with an on-property agreement dated November 3, 2009. That agreement provided general wage increases (GWIs) for the life of the contract period with the last GWI applicable on January 1, 2014. The January 5, 2012 National Agreement likewise included GWIs for the same period, but also included a 3 percent GWI to be effective on January 1, 2015.
The newly ratified Letter of Agreement provides a 3 percent GWI to all BNSF locomotive engineer rates on January 1, 2015.
BLET National President Dennis R. Pierce thanked the four BNSF General Chairmen for their work on the Letter of Agreement, including: B.J. Brown, BNSF–C&S GCA; J.A. Holdcraft, BNSF–ATSF GCA; J.L. Thurman, BNSF–SLSF GCA; and M.O. Wilson, BNSF/MRL GCA. “I also want to thank all members who took the time to participate and vote in this process,” President Pierce said. “The strength of our Brotherhood comes from the collective strength of our membership and participating in our democratic processes only serves to make us stronger.”