Immediate COLA Increase - URGENT
Please READ the following top to bottom and indicate yes/no. Deadline is this Wednesday 7/2
While contract negotiations are still ongoing at the national level, the Carrier has offered an immediate 3% raise that would take effect August 1st, 2025 regardless of whether an agreement is reached by that time.
Any agreement reached for a raise in the contract would take this 3% raise into account. For instance, and this is JUST AN EXAMPLE, if we got a 4% raise on January 1st, 2026, you would only see a 1% raise because we got 3% on August 1st.
Regarding the month of July, 2025, we are currently working with the carrier. Members would either receive 1 month of retroactive pay at 3% or it will be included in future backpay when an agreement is ratified.
On the flip side:
Reject the 3% COLA:
-All crafts represented by SMART TD will not receive a wage increase until a tentative agreement is ratified.
-Carrier could argue at a PEB or binding arbitration that a raise was offered (3% COLA) and rejected, thus relieving them of any backpay obligation.
So, this is not a debate. It’s either YES accept the immediate raise, or NO reject the immediate raise and wait until contract reached…
Tom has a SINGULAR vote to send in by WEDNESDAY THIS WEEK. 7/2
Please respond YES or NO.
News today from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Average hourly earnings in July rose 3.9% over the past year and 0.3% over the prior month.
.9% above the 3% offered and voted for.