摘要: |
ONTHE HEELS OFTHE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES signing off on legislation aiming to quell the impasse between the remaining railroad labor unions that had yet to ratify terms of the tentative agreement outlined by President Biden's Presidential Emergency Board's (PEB), the U.S. Senate followed suit last month, preventing a freight railroad labor strike that, had it occurred, could have cost the nation's economy upwards of $2 billion per day. President Joe Biden subsequently signed the legislation into law. These agreements were based on recommendations made by the PEB, which were released in August, and include a 24% wage increase over the five-year period from 2020 through 2024, coupled with a 14.1% wage increase that is effective immediately. It includes five annual $1,000 lump-sum payments, with the National Carriers' Conference Committee (NCCC), an organization representing the nation's freight railroads in national collective bargaining, noting that a portion of the lump-sum payments are retroactive and would be paid out promptly upon ratification of the agreements by the unions' membership. A major source of contention between the unions that had yet to ratify this agreement and the freight railroads focused on sick leave and shift scheduling, as well as staffing shortages and related issues. At the time of the House passing legislation, eight or the 12 railroad labor groups had fully ratified terms of the tentative agreement, and nine of 13 contracts were already ratified (as SMART-TD has two separate contracts). |