The National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC), which represents the nation’s freight rail carriers in national collective bargaining, today issued the following:

We are disappointed that the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB), which represents approximately 300 rail employees out of the more than 100,000 involved in this bargaining round, has failed to ratify its recent tentative agreement with the nation’s freight railroads. This result will delay the benefits of the tentative agreement for IBB-represented employees, including an immediate 14.1% wage increase and substantial retroactive and lump sum payouts.

The NCCC and IBB previously agreed to maintain a cooling-off period until December 9 in the event the tentative agreement was not ratified. As such, the failed ratification does not present the risk of any strike or job action taken by IBB and the potential for any resulting service disruptions. The NCCC will remain engaged with IBB throughout the remaining cooling-off period and will continue to seek an agreement based on the framework recommended by Presidential Emergency Board 250.

On November 21, the two largest rail unions representing conductors and engineers – BLET and SMART-TD – will conclude their ratification processes and announce their vote. Combined, these two unions represent approximately half of all unionized rail employees.