Yesterday the tentative agreement reached in November was ratified by a majority of the membership. The agreement will become effective January 1st 2012, but will require some work to implement transition items as described in LOA #27. There have been many questions about the transition to the new agreement including; when do the pay rates take effect, when will the overtime balances be zeroed and when will the bid areas become active?
The parties recognized that this agreement would require much work to implement and that not all items would be effective day 1. LOA #27 states “As the parties discussed and agreed during the negotiations resulting in the 2010-2013 United-IBT Technicians and Related Agreement (also referred to in this Letter as “the New Agreement”), there will be technical and logistical impediments to fully implementing and migrating to the New Agreement as soon as the parties would like.” However migration to the new agreement is not an open ended process and should occur quickly. It is expected that completion of all the transition items will occur within the first several months of the year.
PAY
The pay rates take effect 1-1-12. This includes the double time and a half for New Years Day, the double time rate for overtime and the time and three quarters rate for field services. The signing bonus is anticipated to be paid around the same time as the second pay check in the month of January.
ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES
The first item that will not take place immediately will be the holiday move provision for New Years Day. Zeroing of the overtime hours requires changes to the various manpower computer programs and the establishment of new bid areas that are required in the agreement. This provision may happen at different times for different bid areas. For example line stations that only have a few bid areas may be able to transition quicker because there will not be a need to establish new bid areas. Field service is a provision tied to the establishment of bid areas and overtime so the selection process will continue as is until these items are addressed. However international trips will now be selected in the same manner as domestic trips.
MOVING FORWARD
Transition information will be made available as soon as possible to each station’s Business Agents and Chief Stewards and posted on the respective Local and International websites along with email blasts to the membership. The systemwide Chief Steward’s weekly Thursday call and the Friday Business Agent’s calls will be an integral part of discussing these changes and the expected target date for implementation. Look for more information beginning next week on expected timelines for the implementation of the various transition items.
