BLE Ratifies Ground-Breaking Labor Agreement With CN's Wisconsin Central Division.Business Editors CLEVELAND & ROSEMONT, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 13, 2002 The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) was a labor union founded in Marshall, Michigan on May 8, 1863, as The Brotherhood of the Footboard; a year later, its name was changed to The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. (BLE) and Wisconsin Central Division (WCD) of Canadian National (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :CNI)(TSE See Tokyo Stock Exchange. TSE 1. See Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). 2. See Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE). :CNR) today announced ratification of a ground-breaking labor agreement by the BLE's WCD members. Rick Radek, BLE international vice-president, said: "Negotiations were launched well in advance of the expiration of the current agreement because of a strong labor and management interest in exploring alternative methods of compensating operating employees. "In contrast with standard Class 1 railroad mileage- and rule-based wage systems, this progressive agreement is based on a concept of hourly wage and job guarantees. We believe this less complex pact should lead to more cooperative and less adversarial relations between labor and management." The BLE represents about 310 locomotive engineers on WCD. The three-year agreement, effective April 2002, settles wage and work rule issues for engineers through March 2005, and supersedes an existing agreement with a term through yearend 2002. E. Hunter Harrison E. Hunter Harrison (born 1944) is a Tennessee-born railroader who currently is the president and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian National Railway (CN). Life Born in Tennessee, he began as a carman-oiler at the Frisco Railroad in Memphis, Tennessee in 1964, , CN's executive vice-president and chief operating officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. , said: "I applaud the BLE and WCD leadership in forging a breakthrough agreement. It will preserve the work-rule flexibility of an earlier agreement while enhancing compensation and quality of life for WCD engineers. This is truly important, because I've long believed that the complexities of Class 1 labor agreements create almost as many employee life quality and operating problems as the agreements are intended to solve." Founded May 8, 1863, the BLE is the oldest labor union in North America, representing 59,000 professional locomotive engineers, conductors, trainmen, train dispatchers, and other rail workers in the U.S. and Canada. Canadian National Railway Company Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE: CNI, TSX: CNR) is a Canadian rail transportation company that operates the Canadian National Railway. It was created in December, 1918 as a Crown corporation of the Government of Canada to nationalize several bankrupt rail systems spans Canada and mid-America, from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to the Gulf of Mexico Noun 1. Gulf of Mexico - an arm of the Atlantic to the south of the United States and to the east of Mexico Golfo de Mexico Atlantic, Atlantic Ocean - the 2nd largest ocean; separates North and South America on the west from Europe and Africa on the east , serving the ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert, B.C., Montreal, Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and the key cities of Toronto, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Duluth, Minn./Superior, Wis., Green Bay, Wis., Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, St. Louis, Jackson, Miss., with connections to all points in North America. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion