Rail union chiefs announce formation of Coordinated Bargaining Coalition

CLEVELAND, Ohio and WASHINGTON, D.C., (November 1, 2019) — Top leaders of 10 rail unions announced today that their organizations will be participating in coordinated bargaining in the round of national negotiations that began on Nov. 1, 2019. The unions comprising the Coordinated Bargaining Coalition are:

• American Train Dispatchers Association (ATDA)
• Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen / Teamsters Rail Conference (BLET)
• Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS)
• International Association of Machinists (IAM)
• International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB)
• National Conference of Firemen & Oilers/SEIU (NCFO)
• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
• Transport Workers Union of America (TWU)
• Transportation Communications Union / IAM (TCU)
• Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART TD)

The following statement was jointly issued by ATDA President Leo McCann, BLET National President Dennis Pierce, BRS President Jerry Boles, IAM General Vice President – Transportation Sito Pantoja, IBB Director of Railroad Lodge Services John Mansker, IBEW Railroad Department Director Bill Bohne, NCFO President John Thacker, SMART TD President Jeremy Ferguson, TWU Railroad Division Director John Feltz, and TCU National President Bob Scardelletti:
“We are pleased to announce the creation of the Coordinated Bargaining Coalition as we are on the threshold of the most critical round of national bargaining in a generation. Our Coalition is founded on two key values that we all share. One is that we understand the importance of each Union’s autonomy to pursue membership-specific goals within a framework of broad solidarity to defend and improve the wages, benefits and working conditions of our members. The other is that we will spare no effort to defeat the attack by the railroads on the very foundation of our members’ economic security.”
Jointly, the Coordinated Bargaining Coalition unions represent more than 105,000 railroad workers covered by the various organizations’ national agreements, and comprise over 80% of the workforce who will be impacted by this round of negotiations.