Members of six rail unions in a coordinated bargaining group have received their ballots and are preparing to vote on the tentative national agreement reached with the Nation’s Freight Rail Carriers in October.
The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART) condemns the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees’ (BMWE) in the ratification processes.
“BMWE, having failed to reach a voluntary agreement and in fact having given up on further negotiations, is now seeking to place your work rules and health care on the table as leverage for their benefit at a Presidential Emergency Board and ultimately in front of the United States Congress,” SMART said.
SMART is a collection of diverse transportation unions with 216,000 members. Its Transportation Division is the largest railroad operating union in North America, representing every Class I railroad and employees of many regional and short line railroads.
The six unions are the American Train Dispatchers Association; the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen; the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen; the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers, and Helpers; the National Conference of Firemen and Oilers / SEIU; and the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers.