Summer 2006 - International Brotherhood of Teamsters

New England Central MembersApprove First BLET ContractAgreem ent Fea t u res Im p rovem ents in Ben ef i t s , Wa ge sBro t h erh ood of Locom o tive Engi n eers andTra i n m en (BLET) mem bers approved a new fo u r- ye a rco ll ective bargaining agreem ent with the New Engl a n dCen tral Ra i l road (NECR) in mid-Apri l .The agreem ent provi des wage increases of 12 percentover the life of the con tract , b ack pay, a n di m provem ents in work rules and discipline procedu re s .Abo ut 50 mem bers approved the new con tract by a 2-1m a r gi n .“ It’s the first BLET con tract on the property, and Icon s i der it to be an impre s s ive improvem ent over theold on e ,” said Ben Ma rti n , G en eral Ch a i rman at NECR.S pen cer Hoga n , a locom o tive en gi n eer who hasworked at the New England Cen tral since 1998 said,“ Everyone was happy to get the back pay.”Mem bers received back pay for the fo u r- m on t hperi od after ex p i ra ti on of the old con tract and pri or tora ti f i c a ti on of the new on e .“I work hard for my mon ey and we have a lot ofh a rdworking men at this ra i l road , and I think wede s erved a ra i s e ,” said Jesse W. Ho t te , a locom o tive en gineer at NECR for the past seven ye a rs . “ I ’m a father oft h ree with a be a utiful wi fe and a mort ga ge , and thism a ke things easier. It’s nice to get a ra i s e .”Providing ClarityIn ad d i ti on to providing wage incre a s e s , the new agreement cl a rifies language to pro tect workers’ ri ghts andprovi de them with a more def i n ed discipline procedu re .“A lot of gray areas have been cl e a red up,” Hoga ns a i d .BLET Local Ch a i rman Scott Ho l broo k , who hel pedn ego ti a te the new de a l , said the old con tract “was ri d-dl ed with carri er escape cl a u s e s .”Un fortu n a tely for BLET mem bers , s ome of t h o s ee s c a pe clauses were in the form of vague disciplineru l e s . “The old con tract was va g u e ,” said Ho l broo k , wh ohas been a locom o tive en gi n eer at NECR for just overf ive ye a rs . “ It was open for the com p a ny to do what itw a n ted to do.”The new con tract closes those loopholes and give sBLET mem bers bet ter pro tecti on .“The ph ra s e , ‘but not limited to,’ a ppe a red thro u ghout the old agreem en t ,” Ma rtin said. “ It would all owm em bers to be taken out of s ervi ce for just abo ut anyth i n g. Now we have a def i n ed agreem en t .”The import a n ce of a def i n ed agreem ent is that itp uts into wri ting many ben efits that some mem bersi n correct ly assu m ed that they were autom a ti c a lly en titl ed to.Ma rtin used bere avem ent days as an ex a m p l e .“Some of the guys loo ked at the con tract proposal andsaid ‘ we alre ady have this,’ ” Ma rtin said. “What theyf a i l ed to re a l i ze is that the rules defining thei rbere avem ent days were taken from the Ra i lAm erica handbook and were su bj ect toi n terpret a ti on by managem en t . Th o s eri ghts were gra n ted ri ghts that could easilybe taken aw ay. Now they are set in ston ein the agreem ent and not su bj ect toch a n ge .”Spelled-Out Processesfor Discipline, TimeClaimsMa rtin said the newly nego ti a teddiscipline rule is a vast improvement over the form er agreem en t .“ It spells out the process ande s t a blishes rules for appeals andthe use of F i rst Divi s i on , Pu bl i cL aw Boa rd or Special Boa rd ofAd ju s tm en t ,” he said. “The ti m eclaim handling rule now spells outthe appeals proce s s . It all ows forcon c rete doc u m en t a ti on for dispute si n s te ad of just word - of - m o uth te s timony.”“A lot of the yo u n ger men hereh ave never dealt with a union beforeand they don’t know what a union cando for them ,” Ho l brook said. “We nowh ave formal heari n gs and set sch edules fora ppeals and time cl a i m s . Now we have adecent gri eva n ce and discipline po l i c y.”2 | Rail Teamster | Summer 2006 | www.teamster.orgwww.teamster.org | Summer 2006 | Rail Teamster | 3