ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 8, 1996 TAG: 9603080065
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on March 9, 1996.
A story in Friday's Business section incorrectly reported that
Norfolk Southern Corp. is part of a tentative labor agreement between
the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and the National Carriers'
Conference Committee, which represents the nation's largest railroads in
labor negotiations. Although the carriers committee represents Norfolk
Southern in talks with other unions, the BLE is negotiating separately
with both NS and Conrail. Ray Wallace, a general chairman with the union
in Asheville, N.C., said NS and the union have yet to reach an
agreement.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers has reached a tentative agreement on a new five-year labor contract with the National Carriers' Conference Committee, which represents Norfolk Southern Corp. and other of the nation's largest railroads.
The agreement is the first negotiated contract between the engineers and the railroads since 1978. Other contracts in 1986 and 1991 were imposed by government order after talks deadlocked.
The BLE contract is almost identical to one reached in December between the railroads and the United Transportation Union, which represents brakemen and conductors. Together, the contracts cover more than 40 percent of the workers affected by current negotiations between the railroads and 13 separate labor unions.
A mail-ballot ratification vote for the UTU contract is to begin March 19 and be completed by April 8. A date for ratification of the BLE contract hasn't been set, said Steve Fitzgerald, a union spokesman.
The engineers' pact was negotiated on a "two-track" system with national issues affecting workers on all participating railroads resolved separately from local issues.
Under federal law, railroad contracts never actually expire but periodically come up for renewal. The latest contracts were opened for renegotiation Jan. 1, 1995. The national negotiations cover 85 percent of the U.S. rail industry - 190,000 workers.
Major points of the new BLE contract include:
* Three wage increases of 3.5 percent effective Dec. 1, 1995; July 1, 1997; and July 1, 1999.
* Lump sum payments of 3 percent of 1995 pay on July 1 this year and 3.5 percent of 1997 compensation on July 1, 1998.
* A contract signing bonus equal to 1 percent of 1994 earnings.
* Cost-of-living adjustments of between 4 percent and 6 percent of the cost-of-living increases between March 1995 and March 1996 and between March 1997 and March 1998.
* Establishment of a three-member panel to resolve the question of whether engineers should receive pay for obtaining federally required certification.
Norfolk Southern declined to say how much engineers are paid, but the average annual salary for train crew members nationally, not including benefits, in 1994 was $56,072, according to the Association of American Railroads.
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