Members of the American Train Dispatchers Association (ATDA) have ratified new contract terms with the nation’s largest freight railroads. The ATDA is the first in a six-union coalition known as the Coordinated Bargaining Group (“CBG”) to ratify the tentative agreements reached with the railroads in early October. Those agreements were the first in the current round of bargaining.

“We are pleased that ATDA’s members have endorsed their leadership’s commitment to the bargaining process,” said A. Kenneth Gradia, Chairman of the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC), the railroads’ bargaining representative. “We are hopeful that we will soon receive similar ratification results from the other unions in this coalition. These agreements should serve as a pattern for the resolution of national negotiations with the rest of the rail unions.”

The five other unions in the CBG are: the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen; the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen; the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Forgers and Helpers; the National Conference of Firemen and Oilers; and the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers – Transportation Division (SMART-TD), including its Yardmasters Division.

The unions in the CBG represent 85,000 employees, almost 60 percent of the 145,000 employees covered in this bargaining round. Bargaining between the railroads and 12 rail unions began in 2015.

The NCCC represents more than 30 railroads, including BNSF, CSX Transportation, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific in national bargaining with the 12 major rail unions.