CLEVELAND, March 18 — Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen have ratified a new collective bargaining agreement with the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad (MBCR). Votes were tabulated on March 17, and the new four-year contract provides members with general wage increases worth 13.7 percent over the life of the agreement.
The agreement runs through June 30, 2013, with retroactive pay back to 2009.
BLET National President Dennis Pierce thanked those involved in the process, noting that over 84 percent of the members eligible to vote returned ballots as part of the ratification process.
“I congratulate General Chairman Mark Kenny and his negotiating team for bringing these difficult negotiations to a successful conclusion,” BLET National President Dennis Pierce said. “I also thank those members who took the time to vote on this important contract.”
In addition to the general wage increases, the agreement provides passenger engineers with increased certification allowances and instructor allowances. Members would also receive a $1,000 signing bonus.
In terms of work rule changes, General Chairman Kenny said that pay for layover time will be increased from half-time to five-eighths time.
“It is truly significant as it breaks the long standing ceiling of half-time and sets in place a more advantageous threshold going forward in the next bargaining round,” he said.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is the public operator of most bus, subway, commuter rail and ferry systems in the greater Boston area. MBCR operates the commuter rail portion of the MBTA system.