Arbitration Panel Decides Contract for Amtrak’s BMWE and BRS Employees
On March 26, 2014, an arbitration board composed of Chairman Ira F. Jaffe and arbitrators Shyam Das and Herbert Fishgold decided the terms for agreements between Amtrak and two of its labor unions, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees (BMWE) and the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS).
The binding award selected major provisions from the carrier’s proposal with few modifications. Amtrak’s proposals were patterned off of Amtrak’s current contracts with 13 of its other labor organizations. The Passenger Rail Labor Bargaining Coalition (PRLBC) representing BRS and BMWE, based its proposals on the national freight railroad contracts – a “40-year tradition of following the freight pattern” according to a general chairman of BMWE and the PRLBC’s chairman, Jed Dodd.
The award brings closure to more than a four-year-long dispute between Amtrak and the two unions and covers some 2,500 workers. Amtrak now has agreements through January 1, 2015 with all 15 of its unions.
According to the panel, the principle dispute was “whether the agreements reached by the freight railroads with the BMWE, BRS and other organizations should form the basis of the wage, benefits and work rule changes ordered in this proceeding or whether the agreements reached between Amtrak and its other organizations should form the basis.”
The Board determined that the fair and appropriate terms “rest largely upon the terms of the Amtrak pattern.” However, the Board provided that modifications to the Amtrak pattern on a “cost-neutral basis allow accommodation of the preferences of BMWE and BRS for greater wage increases.” Additionally, the Board allowed modifications to follow the “freight pattern health care design changes…in a fashion that will result in minimum disruption to the bargains reached under the Amtrak pattern.”
BRS and BMWE represented employees will receive general wages increases every six months of the agreement for an uncompounded total of 14percent, which is consistent with the Amtrak pattern and which was described by the Board as “significant wage increases.” Also consistent with the Amtrak pattern, the Board’s decision provides for retroactivity for all changes in wages and health contributions.
According to the PRLBC, “Amtrak agrees there will be no delay in calculating and distributing back paychecks.”
In addition to the 1.5 percent increase effective in 2015 proposed by Amtrak, employees will receive an additional 1.5 percent that year. This “extra increase” diverges from the Amtrak pattern, but will be funded by additional health care changes.
The health care changes include an annual deductible of $200 per individual and $400 for families as well as a five percent employee coinsurance. These changes mirror the freight pattern.
Amtrak’s presentation before the arbitration panel included expert testimony from Jerry Glass, President of F&H Solutions Group. Mr. Glass provided his expert opinion on internal and external pattern bargaining across industries, including the rail industry, and how it relates to the current round of negotiations between Amtrak and its unions. He concluded the internal pattern established by 13 of Amtrak’s 15 unions, covering 84 percent of its unionized workforce, could “not afford to be dismissed by the Board and should be applied to BMWE and BRS.”
Amtrak was represented by Tom Reinert of the law firm, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius while the PRLBC was represented by Ronald Wilder, of the law firm Baptiste & Wilder.
AFL-CIO Increases Membership in 2013 Largely Due to Affiliation with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)
While the 56 member unions of the AFL-CIO experienced a net increase of 1,016,783 members in 2013, when you exclude the addition of the UFCW, the other unions collectively experienced a net decrease of 18,186 members. The UFCW added 1,034,969 members.
Fourteen national unions experienced membership increases in 2013 with UNITE HERE, SAG-AFTRA, National Nurses United, AFT, UAW, and AFGE each increasing by more than 5,000 members. Since 2008, AFGE and National Nurses United have each grown by more than 40,000 members.
According to the AFL-CIO report, 24 unions suffered losses and seventeen unions saw no change.
The annual average is computed by taking the total number of per capita tax payments made to the AFL-CIO for each of the 12 months and dividing that by the total number of months for which payments were made. The totals in the report do not include the 4.2 million members of the Alliance for Retired Americans.
AT&T Mobility Employees Represented By the CWA District 3 Ratify Four-Year Agreement
AT&T Mobility and its employees represented by the Communication Workers of American (CWA) District 3 announced the ratification of a four-year collective bargaining agreement covering 13,000 employees.
The agreement was recommended for ratification by the bargaining committee. In a bargaining report posted on its website in February, the CWA said, “the bargaining team believes we achieved the best contract possible.”
The agreement includes wage increase of 2 percent in 2014, 2.5 percent in 2015, 2.25 percent in 2016 and 3 percent in 2017. In addition, employees will receive a $1,050 signing bonus according to the February announcement.
The full CWA summary of the agreement can be seen here.
More Union-Represented Employees in the Private Sector than the Public Sector
According to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report titled “Selected Characteristics of Private and Public Sector Employees,” there were more union-represented employees in the private sector than the public sector in 2013. This is a reversal from 2009 when, “for the first time a majority of workers who were covered by a collective bargaining agreement were employed in the public sector (8.7 million workers in the public sector, compared to 8.2 million private sector workers).”
While the number of unionized workers is greater in the private sector, the percentage of unionized workers remains greater in the public sector. According to the report, 38.7 percent of all public wage and salary workers are covered by a collective bargaining agreement while only 7.5 percent of private sector workers are covered.
Local governments employ 59 percent of unionized public sector employees and state governments employ another 27.5 percent, 8 percent are employed by the federal government and 5.8 percent are employed by the Postal Service. The percentage of Postal Service workers covered by a collective bargaining agreement has, however, declined from 83.5 percent in 1983 to 67.2 percent in 2013.
Overall, the number of unionized workers has declined since 1979 going from 23.5 million workers to today’s 16 million.
The CRS report covers various topics in addition to union representation and can be viewed in its entirety online.
Members of UNITE HERE Affiliates, Culinary Workers Union and Bartenders Union, Ratify an Agreement with Treasure Island and Tentatively Agree to an Agreement with Stratosphere
Union members ratified a five-year labor contract with Treasure Island Hotel and Casino, covering about 1,400 employees on March 13, 2014. Members will vote on a similar five-year tentative agreement (TA) with Stratosphere Casino Hotel and Tower this month.
Both the Treasure Island agreement and the Stratosphere agreement follow the economic packages in the pattern established in earlier contracts covering 34,000 employees at 17 MCM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment Corp. casino hotels in Las Vegas.
Secretary-Treasurer of the Culinary Union, Geoconda Arguello-Kline, said in a statement, “We are pleased that we’ve reached a fair settlement with the Stratosphere. We feel very proud because these jobs will continue to be good jobs with a union standard in Las Vegas.” The unions’ negotiating committee was composed of rank-and-file leader from various hospitality service departments.
The union said that while workers will keep their high-quality health insurance and receive very modest pay increases, “changes were negotiated for food and beverage operations to allow for flexibility in closed and distressed venues with the goals of reopening shops and bringing workers back to their jobs.”
While many casinos and hotels have reached agreements along the Las Vegas strip, a number of properties have not. In fact, according to a March 27, 2014 Culinary Workers Union press release, over 99% of employees have voted ‘yes’ to authorize a strike.
According to the union, “Downtown properties that are now subject to a strike are Binion’s, Fremont, Four Queens, El Cortez, Golden Gate, Golden Nugget, Las Vegas Club, Las Vegas Plaza, Main Street Station, and The D. Workers at Brady Linen Services (Brady workers provide laundry services for many casinos and hotels on the Strip) and Margaritaville also passed the strike authorization vote by overwhelming margins.”