Another one of the 12 railroad unions narrowly approved its deal with the major freight railroads Saturday, offering some hope that the contract dispute might be resolved without a strike even though two other unions rejected their agreements last month.
The railroads have also maintained that the unions have agreed over the years to forego paid sick leave in favor of better wages and strong short-term disability benefits.
The deal the Machinists approved this weekend was the second one they voted on after rejecting their first agreement. This one includes all the raises and an additional paid leave day that was in the original deal, but it also included several additional benefits including a cap on health insurance expenses, an agreement that the railroads will study how much overtime employees are being forced to work and a promise that each railroad will negotiate individually over expense reimbursement.
“Our union recognizes that the agreement wasn’t accepted overwhelmingly, so our team will continue conversing with our members at our rail yards across the nation,” the Machinists union's District 19 unit said in a statement. “This agreement is the first step in addressing some of the issues in our industry. Our fight was able to shine a light on the work-life balance issues as well as the lack of proper paid sick leave.
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