Much has been said and written about the recent legislation to impose a contract on the workers of America’s railroads. One such article is Biden signs bill averting rail worker strike from CNBC…
The initial agreement brokered by the White House would give rail workers a 24% pay increase over five years from 2020 through 2024, immediate payouts averaging $11,000 upon ratification. Under the agreement, workers would receive one extra paid day off and the promise they could attend medical appointments without penalty.
As we have done with other recent contract agreements let’s take a look at what our contract, regarding wages, would look like if it mirrored the rail workers recent settlement.
The top current rate in our contract for a production operator is $32.32 per hour. Let’s use that and add the 24% in increases. $32.32 x 24% = $7.75 an hour raise. The article does not define the details of the schedule for the raises so let’s jump ahead to the last year.
In year 5 the full $7.75 would have been added to the $32.32 for a production wage of $40.07 an hour. Multiplying that $7.75 by the standard straight time schedule of 2080 work hours per year gives us a total raise of $16,120 in the last year. For comparison if the 24% was given in the first year the $16,120 x 5 years would be $80,600 in raises over the life of the agreement.
Obviously, both the percentage in raises and the schedule of the raises are important components of any agreement. Would you support such an agreement?
(free graphic via clipartkey.com0
