Eastern Railroad Discussion > What Happens if Contract Rejected?

I'm asking as a total outsider, but from what I can tell from the comments I've read here on TO, ratification of the contract with the rail carriers is far from assured. What happens next if the agreement is rejected? Do the bargaining committees go back to negotiations or is a strike called immediately?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/22 09:15 by KY_Railfan.

Cooling off period then strike.

A strike, or lockout, could be called anytime after it's rejected.  I would guess there would be some warning, maybe 24 to 48 hours, to give the locals and divisions (BLET local units are called divisions.) time to prepare.  Some of the locals/divisions are more prepared than others.

The other day I talked with a machinist who didn't understand why IAM gave a deadline of Sept 29th and didn't call for a strike after they rejected their contract.  (IAM said it was to give time to the other unions to vote on their tentative agreements.)  That machinist said IAM should've struck immediately and that they should strike on the 29th.

That's the prevailing attitude for most of the organized workforce.  I told my wife that I though our CEO was probably looking out his office window and thinking, "Our employees hate us as much as we hate them."

"Our employees hate us as much as we hate them.Its a good thing I've made my millions regardless of the outcome."

57A26 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A strike, or lockout, could be called anytime
> after it's rejected.  I would guess there would
> be some warning, maybe 24 to 48 hours, to give the
> locals and divisions (BLET local units are called
> divisions.) time to prepare.  Some of the
> locals/divisions are more prepared than others.
>
> The other day I talked with a machinist who didn't
> understand why IAM gave a deadline of Sept 29th
> and didn't call for a strike after they rejected
> their contract.  (IAM said it was to give time to
> the other unions to vote on their tentative
> agreements.)  That machinist said IAM should've
> struck immediately and that they should strike on
> the 29th.
>
> That's the prevailing attitude for most of the
> organized workforce.  I told my wife that I
> though our CEO was probably looking out his office
> window and thinking, "Our employees hate us as
> much as we hate them."


Are you sure there's not another cooling off period in the BLE or SMART-TD contracts similar to IAM?

I've not seen the final version of either yet.

DevalDragon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 57A26 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > A strike, or lockout, could be called anytime
> > after it's rejected.  I would guess there
> would
> > be some warning, maybe 24 to 48 hours, to give
> the
> > locals and divisions (BLET local units are
> called
> > divisions.) time to prepare.  Some of the
> > locals/divisions are more prepared than others.
> >
> > The other day I talked with a machinist who
> didn't
> > understand why IAM gave a deadline of Sept 29th
> > and didn't call for a strike after they
> rejected
> > their contract.  (IAM said it was to give time
> to
> > the other unions to vote on their tentative
> > agreements.)  That machinist said IAM
> should've
> > struck immediately and that they should strike
> on
> > the 29th.
> >
> > That's the prevailing attitude for most of the
> > organized workforce.  I told my wife that I
> > though our CEO was probably looking out his
> office
> > window and thinking, "Our employees hate us as
> > much as we hate them."
>
>
> Are you sure there's not another cooling off
> period in the BLE or SMART-TD contracts similar to
> IAM?
>
> I've not seen the final version of either yet.

Another cooling off period isn’t mandatory but can be set up by mutual agreement between unions and carriers. We CAN strike at the right time and we COULD get locked out at that time but we don’t have to have either if everyone feels a successful round of renegotiation is imminent.

Posted from iPhone

The Federal government will dictate the new contract.  

Bob Wilcox
Charlottesville, VA
My Flickr Shots

bobwilcox Wrote:
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> The Federal government will dictate the new
> contract.  

And yes that's the elephant in the room! 

After reading the pile of crap givin to us I think we're gonna find out. No one is happy with this contract. 

KY_Railfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm asking as a total outsider, but from what I
> can tell from the comments I've read here on TO,
> ratification of the contract with the rail
> carriers is far from assured. What happens next if
> the agreement is rejected? Do the bargaining
> committees go back to negotiations or is a strike
> called immediately?

    I'm also a outsider KY--Railfan. I wonder  how many that answer your post is a employee of a railroad and how many are blowing smoke out of their rear end and knows everything. I worked for a company and had the IAM as a union.We went on strike for work condition and the company is now gone. I have a lot of friends that are railroad employees and I hear a bunch of stuff. I hope it all works out ok for you...
Everyone at our company lost...

    Steve H.

hartrick24 Wrote:
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> We went on strike for work condition and the company is now gone.

> Everyone at our company lost...

Something for the railroad employees to consider when they vote. No, I don't expect the railroads to be "gone" if there is a strike - but I do not expect the deal will get better for the workers if they stop working. With the unions supporting the TA it is up to the workers to gain public acceptance of their rejection of the agreement. Voting no is easy ... getting Congress to convert a "no" vote into a better deal than the TA or PEB results requires a lot of public relations work. Work that is normally done by the unions.

A "no" vote is asking the unions to go to Congress and say "yes, we agreed to a deal that we thought would be acceptable to our membership but they rejected the deal and want more". The railroads will show up and say they accepted the TA and if there are changes in favor of the railroad workers there will be changes in favor of the railroads. Rejecting the TA could be the worst PR move ever.

But it is their choice. The membership can vote no and be forced back to work by Congress if they choose to follow that path.

Most railroaders are not considering how badly that could turn out either

engineerinvirginia Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> bobwilcox Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The Federal government will dictate the new
> > contract.  
>
> And yes that's the elephant in the room! 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/22 12:16 by NSDTK.

The railroads no longer have a choice. They have agreed to the TA. There may be some "outside of contract" adjustments that they can make.but they can't make further concessions than they already agreed to without opening a can of worms.