WASHINGTON – The membership of the SMART Railroad, Mechanical and Engineering Department (SMART MD) has voted to ratify a tentative agreement with the U.S. Class I railroads, the union announced on Wednesday.
The contract passed with 54% of the rank and file voting in favor of the deal.
The ratified contract includes historic wage increases, five annual service recognition payments, an additional paid day off and enhanced healthcare benefits. Members will immediately receive a 13.5% wage increase, and within 60 days will also receive retroactive pay and $3,000 in service recognition payments.
“It was up to our members to decide whether to accept this agreement, and the members have made the decision to ratify a contract with the highest wage increases we have ever seen in national freight rail bargaining,” said Joseph Sellers, Jr., general president of SMART. “However, we hear the concerns of our members who may be disappointed in the outcome of this vote, and I promise that we will never stop fighting to ensure that they receive the wages, benefits and working conditions that they deserve for keeping the American economy running.”
SMART MD, which has 1,400 members, is the fifth union to ratify an agreement resolving the current national bargaining round. Tentative agreements with six other labor organizations remain subject to ratification, while the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees will head back to the negotiating table after its members rejected the tentative agreement this week.
The two largest rail labor unions – the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the SMART-TD union – will tally votes in mid-November.
