(The following story by Joe Ruff appeared on the Omaha World-Herald website on June 26.)
OMAHA, Neb — Six of seven unions representing workers at Omaha-based Union Pacific Corp. and other major U.S. railroads have agreed to a contract that includes a 17 percent general wage increase over five years, labor groups said Monday.
The contract includes a cap on health-care contribution costs and at least a temporary halt to rail companies’ efforts to reduce train crews to one person, union officials said. Train crews generally are two or three people — an engineer and at least one conductor.
Union Pacific officials have said advances in technology at some point will make one-person crews the “next logical step” in improving safety and dealing with attrition. Unions have argued that the dangers of fatigue, handling hazardous-waste shipments and grade-crossing accidents are among reasons to have at least two people on train crews.
Union Pacific spokesman James Barnes said the company viewed the contract as a significant step forward for the railroad and the 40 percent of its workforce covered by it.
Negotiations on the contract concluded in May after more than two years of bargaining. The unions submitted the tentative agreement to their members for ratification, and final results were received Monday.
The contract will remain effective until Dec. 31, 2009. Wage increases included retroactive pay, said John Bentley, a spokesman for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.
The rail unions had formed a labor coalition to negotiate with the National Carriers Conference Committee, which negotiates on behalf of the railroads, including Union Pacific, BNSF, Norfolk Southern, CSX Corp. and Kansas City Southern.
Approving the contract were the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division, Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, National Conference of Firemen and Oilers/SEIU, and the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association. The American Train Dispatchers Association did not ratify the agreement.