Members of the National Conference of Firemen and Oilers (NCFO) have voted to ratify a new agreement with Norfolk Southern (NS), the Class I railroad reported Oct. 24.
NCFO’s ratified agreement provides a 3.5% average wage increase per year over the next five years, as well as “more vacation earlier in their career and makes significant improvements to an already robust suite of health care benefits,” NS said.
It follows ratification votes at NS by the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED); American Train Dispatchers Association (ATDA); International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers–Mechanical Department (SMART-MD); Brotherhood of Railway Carmen Division/TCU (BRC); and Transportation Communications Union (TCU).
In addition, NS has reached similar tentative agreements, which are still subject to ratification, with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers–Transportation Division (SMART-TD); the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers–Transportation Division Yardmasters (SMART-TD Yardmasters); and the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers and Blacksmiths (IBBB).
These tentative agreements with 10 of NS’s 13 unions cover approximately 67% of its craft workforce, according to the railroad.
“The continued early progress we’ve made with our labor unions on ratifying new collective bargaining agreements give our craft colleagues peace of mind around wages and benefits,” NS President and CEO Mark R. George said. “We would like to thank the leadership of the NCFO for their strong partnership in helping us reach this agreement for the benefit of our dedicated craft employees.”
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.
