Success!

I just received notification from the carrier ,and please pass this on to as many IBEW members as possible. In light of securing a 2012 side bar agreement between my self and MBCR the carrier has decided to back off elimination of the 4-12 jobs and or handing our work to another craft.

This in my humble opinion is a victory for the IBEW in times and a climate when we needed one. The Carrier obviously begrudgingly realized that if they went to an arbitration it would be a resounding loss for them. As the President of IBEW 674 I not only have power to negotiate agreements such as $2.00 differentials ,vacation allotment, force account increases, technician agreements, but I also have signatory power to sign agreements that are enforceable. I'd like to think the foresight to see what potentially was going to come down the road along with our so many signed sidebar agreements has put us on a solid foundation in many areas.

This is a victory that was not only stressful for not just myself but many in our Local, but also due! This is a win!!!!

Andrew Mannion Local President

Differential Increase

One of our most successful endeavors, showing how savvy unions can leverage company policy to benefit their members, was the effort to secure a long overdue adjustment to employee compensation, increasing and extending the Hours-of-Service differential. From 1992-2014, the hours of service differential stagnated at $0.50.  Dissatisfied with twenty two years without adjustment, then Local Chairman Andrew Mannion set out to prove that ICC electricians in Diesels and Coaches were earning as much as $25,000 a year LESS than other crafts in those shops. It was due to the Hours-of-Service rules that limited shifts to 12 hours. $0.50 an hour hardly makes up for that loss of revenue and the additional responsibilities that ICC jobs entail. Through these efforts, Andy was able to secure a 300% increase to the Hours-of-Service, differential, raising it to the $2.00 most of us enjoy today. It took dozens of letters and months of conferences, and it was only made possible by embedding the policy as a clause in the settlement of the new tech agreement. He fought to include loco and coach inspectors in that settlement, and MBCR agreed.

Meanwhile, other crafts responded to this example of union leveraging power and began lobbying MBCR for their ICC inspection members to receive the same rate. They got the same $2.00 differential despite not having the Hours-of-Service restriction that drove us to fight for it in the first place. Those unions used our progress to get themselves a leg up. That's an AMAZING and unexpected response. Good for them! Unions are a way for workers to leverage their collective bargaining capabilities, and we are stronger when we work together. IBEW Local 674 has shown that they have what it takes to be leaders in the emerging new labor movement. We are here to help each other secure fair compensation, and we can use the tactics of other unions to strengthen our case and continue to make improvements for our workers, too. Now union president, Andy's plan was to wait for the other crafts to win their time claim. Once they did, IBEW Local 674 was able to file yet another time claim with MBCR for all electricians in the diesel and coach houses to receive that same differential. Since Carmen and Machinists now received the differential for inspecting non-icc equipment without Hours-of-Service, why wouldn't our non-icc electricians get the same benefit for their daily inspections. After months of conferences and countless letters, appeals and arbitrations, by March of 2013, we had an agreement. Signed off by MBCR and President Mannion, all electricians in the Diesel and Coach Houses had that same differential.

These efforts don't end there; the next phase was to continue to extend this benefit to more workers. Now that all the shop workers got the rate, why wouldn't everyone that performs these inspections get that rate? So, this allowed the local to submit another time claim for all south side, north side, S&I, and outside point electricians. This process became one of the longest and most drawn out. Multiple rounds of conferences, claims, and appeals took place, but ultimately MBCR relented. In May 2014, the local signed an agreement with MBCR for all South side Hours-of-Service electricians, and soon we would have that agreement for North side members as well, but that part didn't happen.

“Employers and employees alike have learned that in Union there is strength.”

— Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Two days from securing that agreement for North side electricians, the President of the Carman's Union, wrote a letter to MBCR. I wish I could understand why a union brother would do this... you'll have to ask him. That letter sidetracked the pending agreement, and with the changeover to Keolis, the entire process had to start again. Conferences with the new carrier came to no avail, and as of Oct 2015, the time claim is filed and awaiting assignment to an independent arbitrator (documents below).

This description encompasses hundreds of hours of work and over a hundred written correspondences, all completed by Andy Mannion. I personally know that he is very proud of the work that he has done for us, and I'm proud to be a small part of it by sharing it with you all here. He deserves our thanks, as well as our visible, vocal support in the many fights that we have ahead of us.

William Lynch, Recording Secretary

Time Claim page 1

$2.00 differential time claim

Time Claim page 2

$2.00 differential time claim

Agreement to Arbitrate

A letter confirming that this time claim issue is moving to arbitration.

Technician Agreement

The tech program has been part of our organization for decades, however, few details of this program are in the contract. Most aspects of those jobs were handled by past practices and subject to changes at anytime. In 2014, President Mannion was able to secure a written letter detailing a pay increase and a separate vacation list for technicians. This was possible by using the time claim process at the local level. That time claim changed an old "shake hands" agreement into policy. A policy that guarantees a $1.00 increase over the base rate for techs now and in perpetuity, and doubled the number of peak vacation weeks available to our members.

Vacation Agreement

Originally, there was no policy for vacation allotments. Vacations were allowed by "industry standards", which doesn't mean much. At the end of 2010, the Chief Mechanical Officer of MBCR made a decision to limit the number of workers that could be on vacation at any one time. This would force all but our most senior members to take their vacation during the winter and early spring and fall. This was not a well planned decision as we had more vacation weeks available than this plan would allow us to take in a year. When the CMO's announcement went out, Andy Mannion turned right around and made it clear that this was unacceptable and offered a strong counter-argument. It worked. By keeping technicians on a separate list and explaining how detrimental this would be to moral, our vacation practices were kept largely intact and if fact have more summer vacation slots than any other craft. We deserve our time with our families and we cannot allow that time to be taken from us.

MBCR Vacation Policy