BMWE bargaining committees in negotiations with carrier representatives, January 26, 2000.

BMWE Invokes Mediation

Despite the arrival of the 21^st century and the coming of the new millennium, the railroads represented by the National Carriers' Conference Committee see no reason to change their way of doing business with respect to bargaining with labor. If one word could describe their way of doing business, that word would be "delay."

The moratorium between BMWE and the NCCC expired on December 31, 1999. BMWE commenced preliminary bargaining with NCCC on December 2 and 3, and met again on December 8 and 9, 1999. At those meetings, NCCC Chairman Robert F. Allen, informed BMWE that he would schedule bargaining sessions with the BMWE between two and three days a month from January through March.

Allen advised that he was doing the same scheduling with each of the other rail unions. After March, Allen told the BMWE, he would then choose the union or unions that he would get serious with and put the others onto a slower schedule. Allen acknowledged that the amount of time allotted between December and March was not enough time to reach agreement.

BMWE representatives immediately registered their protest of this schedule and advised Allen that they saw no reason not to have an agreement by the end of March 2000. This was followed up with additional verbal as well as written requests that the NCCC schedule 10 days of consecutive bargaining to either reach agreement or move to the next step. BMWE did accept bargaining dates for January 26 and 27, February 16, 17 and 18, and two days in March 2000.

For the entire week beginning January 10 the BMWE bargaining committees met in Chicago to work on developing a comprehensive settlement proposal from the BMWE Section 6 Notice served on November 1, 1999. This comprehensive proposal was delivered to the NCCC the following week for discussion on January 26 and 27, 2000.

As a result of the bargaining which occurred on January 26 and 27, 2000, the BMWE bargaining committees further modified their comprehensive proposal for settlement and again asked for 10 consecutive days of bargaining, after which the parties would reach agreement or move to the next step. NCCC again refused.

It was then clear to BMWE that the NCCC is not interested in reaching a prompt resolution of this dispute and, as in the past, intends to protract bargaining for as long as possible. So on January 28 the BMWE requested mediation of this dispute from the National Mediation Board and asked that a mediator be assigned immediately. The Board granted the BMWE's request and assigned Senior Mediator Jack Bavis and Mediator Les Parmelee to this case.

The following is to save space for a few more lines on whatever happens on February 16 through 18 and to put in after this Journal went to press, etc. meetings were held on March whatever dates if that is what happens. Or whatever happens unless it's really big and then we will change this whole article.