Machinists, freight railroads reach new tentative agreement

The nation’s major freight railroads and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) reached a tentative agreement for a new labor contract, the National Carriers’ Conference Committee announced yesterday.

The tentative agreement is the second to be reached with the IAM after the union’s membership did not ratify the first.

The tentative agreement implements the recommendations of Presidential Emergency Board No. 250, which include a 24% wage increase during the five-year period from 2020 through 2024 — with a 14.1% wage increase effective immediately — and five annual $1,000 lump-sum payments. 

With yesterday’s announcement, all unions in the national bargaining round have ratified or are in the process of ratifying new collective bargaining agreements, NCCC officials said in a press release.

Meanwhile, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) announced yesterday that its National Wage Committee has approved sending the tentative agreement with the freight railroads to BLET membership for a ratification vote.