Posted January 11, 2017 14:52:00 CST

How National Negotiations Work – Part 1

by LRC

Formal Notices Served

The term "national negotiations" is often used to describe the process for handling the labor negotiations for a "master" agreement on a national or multi-employer basis. This process is begun by the serving of notices (Section 6 Notice) by both carriers and unions regarding their respective desires to change existing collective bargaining agreements governing wages, work rules and health and welfare benefits. The current round of National Negotiations kicked-off January 1, 2015.

Essentially, each of the nation’s carriers and the committees or groups comprising a labor union authorize a single entity to negotiate on their behalf. For the carriers, their representative, the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC), bargains with the national representative of a union of coalition of unions. This round there are 3 bargaining coalitions representing all unions:

• The Coordinated Bargaining Group (CBG), which consists of SMART-TD, BLET, BRS, NCFO, ATDA, SMART-TD-YDM and the IBB
• The Transportation Communications Union (TCU) coalition, which includes the TCU, IAM, BRC and IBEW unions
• The BMWE and SMART-MD

Please look to LR Connection for articles to further to explain the RLA process and negotiation updates.