UTU general chairpersons to eye tentative national contract

CLEVELAND -- United Transportation Union (UTU) general chairpersons will get their first look at the proposed national agreement recently announced by the union and the railroads represented by the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC) when they meet in San Diego, CA., on October 11, 2000.

As per the provisions of Article 91 in the UTU Constitution, each general chairperson will have fifteen days to submit questions about the contract offer, said UTU International President Charles L. Little.

The UTU National Negotiating Committee, headed by Assistant President Byron A. Boyd, Jr., will then consolidate the submitted questions into a single, uniform list.

"When the answers to the questions are determined by the negotiating committee and the carriers’ representatives, the agreed-upon questions and answers will be made a part of the offer of settlement," Boyd explained.

Following that process, the package will be distributed to the members of each of the crafts covered or affected by the terms of the proposed agreement. A majority of the members voting from each covered craft is required for ratification of the proposed national contract, Boyd said.

"The individual members of each craft can then vote on the agreement," said Little. "I believe this is a historic agreement, and that it’s superior to anything we’ve ever seen," Little said. "But if one craft votes it down, then there’s no ratification, and that would invite third-party intervention, where we would effectively lose control of our destiny."

The proposed agreement reached between the UTU and the NCCC is the first to be announced between the carriers and any of the 13 standard labor unions taking part in the current round of bargaining, which began last November.

The proposal covers about 45,000 employees, nearly a third of the railroads’ work force on about 95% of the nation’s Class I railroads, including train and engine service employees, and yardmasters.

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