By Dennis R. Pierce
BLET National President
Brothers and Sisters:
As of this update, the current national bargaining round has been underway for over a year. The General Chairmen on properties involved in national negotiations served Section 6 Notices in late 2009 and bargaining began on a national level in early 2010. Some properties are in national handling for all aspects of the round while some are only in national handling for health and welfare and are bargaining on property for their wage and work rule issues. Other properties have settled their wage and work rule issues and have agreed to accept the conditions of the national settlement on health and welfare.
When the round started, then-National President Paul Sorrow made the decision to join five other unions in the Rail Labor Bargaining Coalition (RLBC) for BLET’s national health and welfare negotiations. The other member unions of the RLBC are the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division of the Teamsters Rail Conference (BMWED), the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS), the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers, and Helpers (IBB), the National Conference of Firemen & Oilers / SEIU (NCFO), and the Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SMWIA). Although BLET joined the RLBC for health and welfare bargaining in late 2009, President Sorrow did not initially join the RLBC for BLET’s national wage work rule negotiations due to certain conditions that existed at the time.
As the round progressed through 2010, it became obvious that the Carriers — through their National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC) bargaining arm — did not plan to bargain seriously with any union that was unwilling to negotiate significant plan design changes to the national health and welfare plan. In spite of the fact that 2010 was a profitable year for railroads in national handling, 2011 brought no changes to the NCCC’s position. The NCCC continues to seek an agreement that shifts more of the health and welfare costs to the employees.
For these reasons, the RLBC filed a request for mediation with the National Mediation Board in January of this year. Mediation is one of the required steps in the Section 6 process; the parties must meet with a mediator present to try and resolve all outstanding issues before moving to any of the other steps of the Section 6 process. The first meeting between the RLBC and the NCCC with the mediator present occurred the week of February 7.
Another important event took place that week as well. After considering all of the possible eventualities in the bargaining round and consulting with the BLET Advisory Board, I made the decision to join the RLBC for BLET’s national wage and work rule negotiations. By letter dated February 9, 2011, (attached below) I notified RLBC Chairman and BRS President Dan Pickett that BLET would be joining in with the RLBC to bring conclusion to all of our craft specific issues on wages and work rules in the national bargaining round.
This decision not only solidifies BLET’s standing within the RLBC, but it also moves BLET’s craft specific negotiations into the RLBC mediation umbrella. There is strength in numbers and the RLBC showed that strength in the last bargaining round when it was the first bargaining group to bring home a ratified agreement. We are fully committed to insuring that the RLBC brings home an agreement in this round that the membership will ratify as well.
RLBC, NCCC and the National Mediation Board have confirmed dates for three additional bargaining round meetings, and the BLET intends to have further discussions during those meetings concerning all BLET craft specific issues.
I again want to be crystal clear about one thing. The BLET will not accept a concessionary agreement in this bargaining round. The railroad industry is experiencing a post recession renaissance that included record profits for many properties in 2010. These profits were followed by 100% profit sharing/bonus plan payouts for BLET represented engineers on CSX and BNSF for 2010. It is unacceptable to expect the employees whose labor generated these profits to accept a concessionary contract in this bargaining round and I will not ask them to do so.
The BLET will continue to issue updates as new developments occur in the bargaining round.
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Click here for PDF of BLET letter to BRS President Dan Pickett joining RLBC.