The projects stem from the National Wage and Rules Panel, which was created in 1996 to tackle longstanding, complicated issues that labor and management have not been able to adequately address in the heat of bargaining a national contract, NMB Chairwoman Magdalena G. Jacobsen told BNA in a July 16 interview. These include compensation and scheduling concerns, among others, she said.

"Solving difficult problems in the cauldron of collective bargaining frequently doesn't work," Jacobsen said, and that is where the panel comes in. Negotiations in the railroad industry have been known to be particularly contentious, often relying on White House or congressional intervention to prevent a strike and to force the parties to agree on new terms.

The panel, which has been meeting regularly since January 1997, was born out of the last round of bargaining, when Jacobsen said it became clear that some work rules and practices in the railroad industry may have become "antiquated" and no longer serve their intended purposes.

Rail conductors and trainmen, for example, traditionally are not paid a wage based on an hourly rate, but rather based on the distance a train traveled per day, a practice that started decades ago. Scheduling rail workers' hours also is different than in most industries. Freight trains, for the most part, do not have scheduled service, like passenger trains, so many workers typically are "on-call" and do not have predictable hours.

Panel Creation Part of Contracts. Creating the panel was specifically called for in contracts the major carriers reached in 1996 with the United Transportation Union and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. UTU is the largest transportation union in the rail industry, representing some 40,000 trainmen, conductors, engine service personnel, and yardmasters on the freight carriers, while BLE represents some 20,000 engineers.

The two unions have taken different approaches in implementing that language. The NMB is directly involved with UTU's wage and rule panel while, at this point, the BLE is working independently of the NMB, sources told BNA. The BLE and UTU are discussing the possibility of merging the two unions, with an announcement due at the end of September (100 DLR A-2, 5/26/98), and some of the regional pilot projects resulting from the initiative involve both unions.

The contract language lays out 14 specific issues the parties are to address, with most focusing on compensation, crew scheduling, work rules, and "quality of work life" issues, Jacobsen explained.

The UTU has eight representatives on its National Wage and Rule Panel, including UTU International President Charles L. Little, Assistant President Byron A. Boyd Jr., and General Counsel Clinton J. Miller. The panel also includes 10 representatives of the national freight carriers and top officials of the National Carriers' Conference Committee, which represents the major freight carriers in labor talks.

NCCC Chairman Robert Allen and NCCC Vice Chairman David P. Lee serve on the panel as do top labor relations officials for Burlington Northern Santa Fe; Consolidated Rail Corp.; CSX Transportation Inc.; Kansas City Southern Railway Co.; Illinois Central Railroad Co.; Norfolk Southern; and Union Pacific Railroad Co. Jacobsen facilitates the meetings and generally oversees the project, which she described as the first of its kind for the railroad industry.

The panel's first meeting was in January 1997, during which members received an orientation on problem-solving and interest-based bargaining, an approach not traditionally used in the rail industry, Jacobsen said. That approach uses problem-solving, open communication, and cooperation, where the mutual interest of both the union and the employer are emphasized. This contrasts with the more traditional, and often more confrontational, approach to bargaining.

Emphasis on Interest-Based Bargaining. Jacobsen said using the interest-based bargaining approach allows the parties to explore the "underlying issues" related to their proposals and hopefully enables the parties to be more flexible. For example, if a union is pressing for a no-layoff clause in a contract, the real issue may be job security, she said. The parties may be able to address that by including language that offers early retirement and cross-training in lieu of a strict no-lay-off clause, she said.

Both sides need a better understanding of factors that drive the other's proposals, she said. Workers need to understand, for example, the reasons for certain management decisions and the challenges managers face in running their operations in today's global, highly competitive market, she said.

Some challenges that the parties in the railroad industry face include "just-in-time" inventory systems, in which customers demand great flexibility; multiple suppliers of parts who require safe, economical, and fluctuating response time. New technology, improved track and equipment, and rail mergers all have resulted in "dramatic" changes for the railroad industry, she said.

Nearly 30 Projects Under Way. Jacobsen said about 27 or 28 pilot projects are under way stemming from the panel's activities. Generally the "operations" folks in a railroad who run the railroad business are separate from the labor relations people who deal with human resources issues, she said. And one of the first things the panel members did was to look at integrating the two, she said, noting that all the ongoing projects involve both operations and labor relations representatives.

The pilot projects look at quality of life issues, considering, for example, fixed days of working and more predictable scheduling, which allow workers to plan for vacations and time with their families, she said.

Projects in place at Union Pacific include labor-management studies that are aimed at identifying the factors that contribute to fatigue, and ways to manage work schedules to maximize safety. Panel projects also include the use of a computer model to explore alternatives to existing freight operating practices and ways to improve employee claim and grievance systems.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe has several projects focusing on fatigue while Conrail's Marion, Ind., branch pilot project includes fixed and predictable rest periods, maximizes overnights at home, and provides a "salaried" approach to pay as an alternative to the traditional system that is based on mileage and availability to work.

UTU's contracts with the carriers stipulate that if the parties have not reached agreement on all the issues by Jan. 1, 1999, the panel is to consider making recommendations for handling the unresolved issues no later than July 1, 1999. While the panel's recommendation are not binding, the parties "shall exert good faith efforts" to use the recommendations as a basis for settlement of the issues.

Jacobsen, however, said she is optimistic that the panel will continue to make progress and that the members' efforts will have a positive impact on the next round of bargaining. These issues "can't fall through the cracks," she said, because the parties "won't allow it to happen." The sides have invested so much time and effort into the panel's activities, developing projects, communicating with one another, and learning "where the glitches are," she said. "There will be an outcome," she concluded with confidence.

"We have achieved very open dialogue, a lot of candor," she said. "Instead of blame, we are talking about responsibility and accountability," she said. "That's where the trust comes in."

Reaches Out to Other Rail Unions. Jacobsen said she is interested in getting the other labor unions that represent rail workers involved in some way. She said she would like to see all the other rail unions get oriented with interest-based bargaining before the next round of bargaining, which is set for late 1999.

The UTU national wage and rule panel will receive a $100,000 grant from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, another independent federal agency, to be used to cover the costs of meeting rooms, supplies, and other support services.