MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT
Between
BURLINGTON NORTHERN SANTA FE RAILWAY COMPANY
and
UNITED TRANSPORTATION UNION

 

Road switcher assignments may be established at Portland, Oregon/Vancouver, Washington pursuant to the provisions contained in Section 2 of Article VII of the October 31, 1985 UTU National Agreement and Carrier’s notice dated August 19, 2005; subject to the following conditions:

  1. Regular road switcher assignments may be established at Portland/Vancouver Terminal to provide road switcher service northward on the Seattle Subdivision to MP 93.0.
     
  2. To establish road switcher assignments, BNSF will issue a bulletin for one (1) Conductor and one (1) or more Brakemen, which will contain the following information:

(1) The train number or designation
(2) The home terminal of assignment.
(3) The days of the week service is to be performed.
(4) The rest day(s) of the assignment.
(5) The on-duty time of the assignment.
(6) The date assignment will be established.

With regard to Section 2, #5 above, Road Switchers will have a regular and specific on duty time, which will be at the same time each day it is assigned to operate.

  1. Road switcher assignments may be established to perform daily service on five or six days during a calendar week. On five-day assignments, the rest days will be consecutive. The on and off-duty point for road switcher assignments will be at the same point and location for each day operated.
     
  2. The territorial boundaries for road switcher assignments at Portland/Vancouver Terminal shall be established under the following conditions:

(a) Road switcher assignments may operate in any direction within the limits of their territorial boundaries, including into and out of the consolidated terminal of Portland/Vancouver, and may only operate to MP 93.0 on the Seattle Subdivision. If operated outside these limits, a new day will commence.

 

NOTE: Road switcher crews will be governed by road rules, except that rules providing for automatic release, arbitrary allowances for terminal switching and terminal delay and earliest start times will not apply.

  1. At locations where yardmen are employed, road switcher crews will only perform the service allowable under the applicable National Agreements.
     
  2. Conductors and Brakemen working these road-switcher assignments established under the provisions of this agreement shall be paid the following rate of pay: Conductor $197.66, Brakeman $189.77, subject to future GWI and/or COLA increases becoming effective on and subsequent to the date of this agreement. This rate of pay will encompass the constructive mileage paid under Trainman’s Rule 28 and Conductor’s Rule 35 of the former Northern Pacific Schedules. These assignments will also be allowed a payment of thirty (30) minutes in lieu of eating.
     
  3. Eight (8) hours or less shall constitute a minimum day’s work. Time shall be computed continuously from the time required to report for duty until released from duty, with overtime after eight (8) hours computed on a minute basis at a rate per hour of three-sixteenths of the daily rate.
     
  4. Other road and yard crews performing service within the assigned road switcher limits will continue to be compensated for service under provisions of their applicable schedule rules and agreements. Such crews shall not be entitled to any special compensation or allowance for merely performing service within the limits of the road switcher district. Nothing herein shall be interpreted as establishing "road switcher" as a different class of service within the meaning of the more than one class of service rules.
     
  5. The national holiday agreement provisions shall apply to road switcher crews with payment at the basic daily rate established in Item 6.
     
  6. Conductors and Brakemen who are required to work less than the bulletined number of days of the assignment will be guaranteed a day’s pay, at road switcher rate, for each day not worked to a maximum of six (6) days per week. If the line segment(s) associated with the assignment becomes impassable through an Act of Providence, and it is impossible to perform regular service, this Section does not apply. When it is decided that an assignment is to be annulled for more than two (2) consecutive bulletined working days, because of an Act of Providence as described above, the assignment will be abolished and the regular members of the crew will be allowed to exercise their seniority in accordance with prevailing schedule rules and agreements.
     
  7. Except as specifically provided herein, nothing contained in this agreement shall be construed as modifying amending or superseding any of the provisions of schedule agreements between the United Transportation Union and the BNSF.

 

This Agreement will become effective as of the date signed.

 

Signed at Fort Worth, Texas this 1st day of April 2006.