Railroads walk out of bargaining with union coalition

The nation’s big freight railroads walked out of their second bargaining session with the seven-union coalition representing 85,000 workers, refusing to even discuss ground rules unions proposed for talks, the coalition said.

Coalition Chair George Francisco, President of the National Conference of Firemen and Oilers/SEIU, said the carriers wouldn’t even agree to talk about who could participate in bargaining.

“There will be no ground rules for these negotiations,” the railroads’ lead bargainer said.

Francisco said the railroads have bargained jointly since the 1930s, but the unions are bargaining jointly for the first time in 20 years “to make sure our members get a fair contract.

“We felt a clear set of ground rules would streamline the process. It is outrageous that the carriers dismissed our proposal out of hand,” he added. The walkout occurred March 9.

The unions, including the Train Dispatchers, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen/IBT, the Maintenance of Way Employees/IBT, the Railroad Signalmen, the Boilermakers and the Sheet Metal Workers, also pledge to “not sign off on any tentative agreements…until all the coalition members concur.”

In the past, the carriers used a “divide and conquer stra-tegy,” the coalition says. They would force one union to accept a substandard pact and then federal mediation–ordered through the Railway Labor Act–would enforce it on the others.

This article was written by Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.

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