Members OK new national contract
By a majority of 2-1, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen
members nationwide voted in favor of the new freight rail contract negotiated
by the Rail Labor Bargaining Coalition. The BLET members' votes were the
first in the coalition to be counted.
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CSX members ratify new system
agreement
In mid-April, members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and
Trainmen have ratified a single system agreement with CSX Transportation,
according to National Secretary-Treasurer William Walpert, whose office
was responsible for the vote count.
The new single system agreement unifies work rules and pay across three
of the four BLET general committees at CSX and covers approximately 5,500
members. NST Walpert said the contract was ratified by a vote of 1,580 for
and 1,113 against.
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Metra engineers OK 7-year deal
Metra commuter engineers (former IC-Electric, MILW and Rock Island) represented
by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen ratified a new seven
year contract by a two-thirds majority.
The agreement provides wage increases of 16.5 percent over the life of
the contract, which runs through July 1, 2010. Members will also receive
a 2.5 percent lump sum bonus (a minimum of $1,200) and retroactive wage
increases dating to July 1, 2006.
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Why you should support the BLET-PAC
The last two decades have been an historic gilded age for corporations
and big business, and few industries have been rewarded as handsomely by
this culture as much as the railroad industry. As the U.S. economy has continued
to grow, so has the gap between the richest Americans and the working man
and woman. As companies continue to reap record profits often while
becoming embroiled in one scandal after another everyday workers,
like locomotive engineers and trainmen, who literally make the country move,
have rarely shared in this record breaking prosperity.
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