The United Rail Unions issued the following statement June 9, 2022:
The rail unions who are bargaining as part of the Coordinated Bargaining Coalition (CBC) and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way/SMART Mechanical Coalition concluded their third week of compulsory joint National Mediation Board-mediated negotiations with the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC) yesterday.
These joint mediated negotiations, under the direction of the NMB board members themselves, resulted from the unions’ request to be released from mediation after more than two years of bargaining with the major U.S. Class I railroads.
The rail unions remain united in their effort to negotiate a fair agreement and stand together in rejecting all proposals that the rail carriers have advanced in our mediation sessions. Our members are the backbone of the rail network and they have earned a contract that recognizes their contributions. None of the carrier proposals to date come close to that; instead the carriers continue to advance proposals that insult the very employees that made their record profits possible.
Enough is enough, the only pathway to resolving this dispute is for the NMB to put forth a proffer of arbitration to move the dispute to the final steps of the Railway Labor Act.
Additional information will be provided as developments warrant. We appreciate your continuing support.