The agreement, they said, provides a 3.5% average wage increase per year over the next five years, and offers railroaders “more vacation earlier in their career and meaningful enhancements to an already robust suite of health care benefits.” BNSF reached a tentative agreement with IBB in August.
“This ratified agreement demonstrates our ongoing commitment with our union partners to ensure continued exceptional service for our customers,” BNSF President and CEO Katie Farmer said. “The success of our railroad is built upon the collaboration and mutual respect of our hard-working railroaders, and I’m excited to take this next step forward together.”
“This was an all-around great agreement, from wage increases to a better insurance package and vacations,” commented IBB Director of Railroad Lodge Services John Mansker. “The members spoke with an outstanding vote ratification.”
In recent weeks, BNSF has also reached ratified agreements with members of the National Conference of Firemen and Oilers (NCFO); International Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation (SMART) Railroad, Mechanical and Engineering Department (MD); American Trains Dispatchers Association (ATDA); Transportation and Communications Union (TCU); and Brotherhood Railway Carmen (BRC).
Additionally, the railroad has reached a tentative agreement, which is pending ratification, with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).
CSX was the first Class I railroad to take its labor negotiations out of national handling; NS and BNSF followed.
The last bargaining rounds, in 2020, led to the formation of a Presidential Emergency Board in July 2022. Nearly five months later, President Joe Biden signed into law a congressional resolution (H.J. Res. 100) imposing on four holdout rail unions a collectively bargained Tentative Agreement ratified by eight others.
