Today, the National Carriers Conference Committee (NCCC) reached tentative national collective bargaining agreements with the Transportation Communications Union (TCU) and the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen (BRC). These agreements, reached on behalf of the NCCC-represented railroads who had not earlier reached local pattern agreements with the aforementioned unions, are subject to member ratification on those railroads. Reflecting terms consistent with those pattern agreements, the tentative national agreements were entered just days after the parties exchanged section 6 notices to open the national bargaining round and build on the early progress made across the industry over the past several months.

“The NCCC is encouraged to see this progress so early in the national bargaining round,” said Jeff Rodgers, chairman of the NRLC and the NCCC. “These agreements address employee priorities, providing an 18.8% wage increase over five years, enhancing health and welfare benefits at a lower cost and giving railroaders access to more paid vacation earlier in their careers. Importantly, they reinforce the pattern set by early agreements reached between carriers and unions at the local level, which will help guide prompt, stable outcomes for the entire industry.”

The NCCC’s goal is to negotiate national agreements that build on the freight rail industry’s core strengths: safe, high-paying jobs for employees with professional growth opportunities, affordable and reliable service for customers, and ongoing reinvestment in infrastructure and innovation.