The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers – Transportation Division (SMART-TD) and American Train Dispatchers Association (ATDA) have reached tentative agreements with Keolis Commuter Services (Keolis), the operating and maintenance partner for Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Commuter Rail in Boston.
According to SMART-TD GO-769, which represents 450 conductors and assistant conductors, the tentative agreement includes:
- Retroactive pay from July 1, 2023.
- Scheduled general wage increases (GWI): July 1, 2023 – 5%, July 1, 2024 – 5%, July 1, 2025 – 5%. July 1, 2026 – 5%, June 15, 2027 – 5% plus an additional $2.00 per hour.
- These increases compound to 32.69% for conductors and 33.51% for assistant conductors over the life of the agreement.
- Three additional paid sick days per year.
- The addition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a paid holiday.
- The modification of vacation allotments for new employees within their first two years of service.
- Modification of bereavement leave to include additional family members.
These increases were negotiated with minimal work rule changes, SMART-TD reported March 24. “The significant GWI increase provides a precedent for other commuter railroads moving forward,” the union noted.
“This is an outstanding contract for SMART-TD members,” said Rick Pauli, General Chairman of SMART-TD. “I would like to give credit to Cole Czub and Ken Owens, Local Chairmen of the North and South Side Conductors, for working hard for their members in coming to this agreement.”
Keolis on April 1 reported also reaching a tentative agreement with ATDA. This agreement, pending ratification by union members, will be retroactive to July 1, 2023, when the contract first became amendable, the company said.
“Keolis is pleased to have reached updated agreements with SMART and ATDA,” said Abdellah Chajai, CEO and General Manager of Keolis. “Keolis has now reached updated agreements with nearly all of our workforce, 13 of our 14 unions [representing nearly 2,000 members of the Commuter Rail workforce]. We want to ensure that the railroad continues to be a place where people are able to develop a career, and we are proud of the agreements we’ve reached.”
“We are happy to have reached an agreement with Keolis on behalf of the members of the American Train Dispatchers Association,” ATDA General Chairperson Sarah Guthro said. “Our members are essential to the operation of the railroad and this agreement is a step in the right direction in providing them with the wages and benefits they deserve for their skills and hard work they contribute.”
In addition to these two tentative agreements, Keolis has ratified and settled agreements with the following unions: Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), American Railway and Airway Supervisors Association (ARASA), Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division (BMWED), Brotherhood of Railway Carmen (BRC), Brotherhood of Railway Signalmen (BRS), International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB), Transportation Communications Union (TCU), Transport Workers Union (TWU), International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail Transportation Workers (SMART Sheet Metal), and National Conference of Firemen and Oilers (NCFO), and the International Association of Machinists (IAM).
