Members Asked to Set Bargaining Priorities

Members Asked to Set Bargaining Priorities

International President Scardelletti and Carmen Division General President Johnson are asking members who work under the national rail freight agreements–clerical or carmen–to let them know what should take priority when contract talks open later this fall.

Affected members will be receiving a bargaining priorities survey by mail in the next few days. The first part of the survey asks about overall bargaining priorities. The second, longer section emphasizes health and welfare issues which TCU leaders anticipate will be a “major focus” during negotiations. Members are asked to complete the survey and return it so it arrives at TCU headquarters no later than October 12.

“Your input is important to us,” Scardelletti and Johnson say. “We will incorporate your priorities into the Section Six Notices we file on November 1."

The two leaders stress that “Whether we are able to achieve a contract reflecting your priorities will largely be determined one day later–on Election Day, November 2.”

Recent history, they point out, confirms that who is in the White House has tremendous consequences for bargaining: “Just compare the contract we negotiated under President Clinton, with its zero contributions to health insurance, with what we wound up with under President Bush.”

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