The Union bargaining team arrived in Chicago on Tuesday, January 5th and promptly held a union-only meeting to begin preparing for month-long "accelerated" negotiations.
This accelerated negotiation process will involve a slightly different approach to bargaining. As opposed to simply passing proposals back and forth, the parties first identify the core issues that need to be addressed in each Article. After identifying them, the parties collectively discuss the underlying issues and work to develop possible alternative solutions until an agreement can be reached.
While we are cautiously optimistic that this approach can be productive and lead to a comprehensive agreement, the union negotiating team is willing revert back to traditional bargaining if the process is unsuccessful.
Tentative Agreement Reached on Article 25 - Union Representation
This week's bargaining sessions involved discussion on the following items:
Article 10 - Seniority
Article 16 - Transportation
Article 25 - Union Representation
At the conclusion of Thursday's bargaining session, the Union and Company reached a tentative agreement on Article 25-Union Representation.
Progress was made on both the Seniority and Transportation articles and discussions on those items will continue next week.
Upcoming Negotiation Dates
Negotiations will resume Tuesday, January 12th in Chicago and will continue each week in January.
