UTU members represented by CSX General Committee 201 (former Chesapeake & Ohio) have ratified a five-year wage, rules and working-conditions agreement.
The same agreement previously was ratified by members of General Committee 851 (former Seaboard Coast Line).
It also was ratified by all crafts of General Committee 025 (former Atlanta & West Point) following a revote owing to a tie ballot among the trainmen craft.
The agreement previously was rejected by all crafts of General Committee 513 (former Louisville & Nashville, and Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis).
The agreement -- dealing specifically with issues and circumstances unique to CSX southern lines -- was negotiated outside national handling, with approval of the UTU Association of General Chairpersons, District 1, and the National Carriers Conference Committee.
GO 201 General Chairperson Jim Townsend said the tentative agreement was sent out for a second vote because of mail delivery problems and misinformation regarding balloting procedures involving the first vote.
In that first vote, the conductor craft rejected the tentative agreement, although it was approved by all other crafts. Townsend said that following the first vote, he began receiving "numerous" telephone calls from local officers and members alerting him of a mail delivery problem and misinformation among newer members regarding balloting procedures.
Where just a small percentage of conductors and other craft members returned ballots on the first vote (owing to the delivery and misinformation problems), some 70 percent of GO 201 members voted on the second ballot, which was approved by 61 percent of those voting, and by all crafts under the UTU Constitutions craft autonomy provisions.
"Im so proud of my local officers and members for making their voices heard," Townsend said. "This reinforces the privilege and honor I have representing these members."
Townsend singled out for "praise" four of his locals for efforts in ensuring members, on the second vote, received and cast ballots and fully understood voting procedures. They are Local 915 in Handley, W.Va., where 81 percent of members cast ballots; Local 118 in Hinton, W. Va., where 75 percent of members cast ballots; Local 662 in Richmond, Va., where 71 percent of members cast ballots; and Local 630 in Ashland, Ky., where 70 percent of members cast ballots.
