ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern has become the first railroad to reach paid sick time agreements with all 12 railroad labor unions.
NS and the SMART-TD union that represents yardmasters announced on Friday that they had come to terms on a deal for the railroad to provide yardmasters with up to seven paid sick days per year.
The agreement will immediately grant nearly 300 yardmasters with four new days of paid sick leave per year while also offering them the flexibility to use up to three additional days of existing paid time off as sick leave.
“This agreement will provide our hardworking yardmasters the time they need and deserve to take care of their personal well being,” Jeremy Ferguson, president of SMART-TD, said in a statement. “I want to thank Norfolk Southern for their partnership on this deal, and for leading the industry as the first railroad to sign sick leave agreements for every one of our dedicated union members. And most importantly, I want to thank our SMART-TD general chairmen, Joe Borders and Dan Weir, for negotiating this important new benefit for Norfolk Southern yardmasters.”
NS said the final paid sick leave agreement for yardmasters builds on the momentum from the comprehensive quality-of-life package that Norfolk Southern and SMART-TD negotiated last month for another group of SMART-TD members – conductors and trainmen. The conductor and trainmen agreement, which included paid sick leave, was ratified by union membership last Friday.
“Following national labor negotiations, we committed to address quality of life issues for our craft railroaders. With today’s agreement, we make good on that promise,” CEO Alan Shaw said in a statement. “I am proud of our team for working collaboratively with union leadership over the last four months to reach agreements that benefit all of our craft colleagues.”
NS said it remains actively engaged with all its labor unions to further explore and negotiate the quality-of-life benefits that will have the greatest positive impact for its employees.
Sanity returns to the NS. Let it spread to the rest of the RR’s
That “sanity” does seem to be spreading, at least in the east at CSX. Much cause for optimism this is.