(The Associated Press circulated the following article by Alan Zibel on March 1.)
WASHINGTON — After more than two years of negotiations, U.S. freight railroads on Wednesday reached a new labor agreement with unions representing about 66,000 workers.
The tentative contract, which would last through 2009, still needs to be ratified by union members, a process that could take two to three months.
Seven unions representing railroad employees — train dispatchers, engineers, track workers and signal workers — reached the deal with 30 railroads.
The unions said the pace of negotiations speeded up this year because they wanted to reach a deal rather than have the case heard before an emergency board appointed by President Bush.
George Francisco, who headed negotiations for the unions, said the negotiations marked the first time in three decades that the unions had successfully joined together to bargain with railroads. In a statement, he said the agreement “proves the old adage that in unity there is strength.”
Railroad management also applauded the deal.
“We feel that this agreement … will certainly provide a pattern to resolve the rest of the round of bargaining” with other unions, said Joanna Moorhead, general counsel for the National Carriers’ Conference Committee, a group representing railroads.
Moorhead said one of the more contentious topics in the talks was health benefits. Francisco said wages and benefits were among the thornier issues worked out between the two sides.