RAIL: US rail companies strike deals with unions months ahead of next bargaining round

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US railroads Norfolk Southern (NS) and BNSF have reached tentative, five-year collective bargaining agreements with several labor unions four months ahead of the opening of the next collective bargaining round, the companies announced on Friday.

The agreements cover about 30% of the unionized NS workforce and about 15% of BNSF union workers.

The agreements are still subject to ratification by union membership.

BNSF and NS reached agreements with the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers and Blacksmiths (IBBB) and the National Conference of Firemen and Oilers (NCFO).

NS also separately reached tentative agreements with the American Train Dispatchers Association (ATDA), the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED) and the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers – Transportation Division Yardmasters (SMART-TD Yardmasters).

The tentative agreements provide a 3.5% average wage hike annually over the next five years and offer railroaders more vacation earlier in their career and make meaningful enhancements to an already robust suite of health care benefits.

Over the past two weeks, NS has reached tentative agreements with nine of its 13 unions.

BNSF reached tentative agreements with four other unions last week – the ATDA, the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen Division/TCU (BRC), International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers – Mechanical Department (SMART-MD) and the Transportation Communications Union/IAM (TCU).

Railroad CSX last week announced agreements with TCU, BRC, SMART-TD, BMWED, the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAM), the American Railway and Airway Supervisors Association (ARASA) and the B&O Joint Council (BOJC).

CSX has now reached a total of 12 separate tentative agreements, covering more than 50% of its union employees.

The progress on labor negotiations should offer some relief to chemicals markets in the US considering the recent four-day shutdown in Canada because of labor strife.

Freight rail service at railroads Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) resumed on 26 August following an order by a labor tribunal that ended a complete shutdown that started on 22 August.

Canada-based chemical producers rely on rail to ship more than 70% of their products, with some exclusively using rail.

About 80% of Canada’s chemical production goes into export, with about 80% of those exports going to the US.

Railroads are vital to the chemicals industry as chemical railcar loadings represent about 20% of chemical transportation by tonnage in the US, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest.

With additional reporting by Stefan Baumgarten

Thumbnail shows railway tank cars. Image by Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock