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.

Three things: First, the 1st of day of August is Thursday. If you have any CBT's that roll over from Wednesday to Thursday, you may be in PR Thursday morning... and you will accure points. Check out your queue and make sure it's clear. I know Annual Fire Extinguisher and Riding Bulkhead Flat cars showed up in mine in the last few days. Second, UP testing teams are across the system right now, including Chicago. Please watch yourselves, don't give them any easy grabs, ESPECIALLY criticals. I just got stop tested at the derail as i brought my work train into West Chicago on the downtown lead - by camera. Finally, FRA is out there on the hunt for ALL smart watches. Any watch that does more than tell time is what they will watch for. Don't get pinched for 2.21.

Bruno's weeks have opened up. Check vacation allocations and get your emails to me ASAP. Vacationtrade577@yahoo.com Name, cell, EMP ID, week you have, week you WANT ALSO, name one backup week if someone else takes it. ONE TRADE every 24 hours... per person. No hoarding.

They are due TODAY no matter WHAT the expiration date is. If you have any non-completed CBT's that are in your folder, they have to be done by tonight. Don't let a slew of investigation letters hit the mail Monday. It's a lot harder to stop an investigation from happening than it is to just get the word out to make sure they are completed.

Hi. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Karl Joost, and I’m one of three of the vice local chairmen you’ve elected. My particular duties include taking care of yard issues, handling vacation changes (Road/Yard/Metra), and writing denied time claims for both road, yard and Metra, then progressing them to Labor Relations. Courtney Smith handles all road issues, and Mason Lockett handles Metra issues. We are your primary line of defense when it comes to the carrier making aggressive moves and taking liberties with our contracts and agreements. WE NEED TO BE CONTACTED. If you all are not familiar with our names and cell numbers, GET FAMILIAR PLEASE. All info is posted on our website: https://www.smarttd577.com That’s also a link you should copy and paste into your browser on your phones. More on the website later. Call us with questions and concerns. We all work for Tom Bakr, Local Chairman, and will get him involved if we don’t know the answer or can’t get it resolved. Tom works for the GCA out of Topeka and will call HIS boss, Luke Eddington if he needs to. However, it all starts with you. You have got to get in contact with us. Not urgent enough for a phone call? Our email addresses are posted on the website as well. And finally, the website. We, 577, have EVERYTHING posted. All agreements, contracts and addendums are there for you to look at, from AWTS to Borrow Out agreements. The proper way to write claims, the list goes on and on. Odds are that the answer you seek is on the website. Last word. You have all three of our names. Our numbers are posted. Contact us … my personal stance is that you can text or email me 24 hours…. But call only during decent hours unless you’re against a wall somewhere. Then you should call me whenever. Granted, my specialty is yard ops, so if I don’t know the answer, I will find it. Same with Courtney and Mason—- try to call them for things related to your divison. You elected us. So, work with us to try to fix things. Give us an opportunity to do our jobs. Stay Safe. -Karl J

So the Carrier has agreed to not abuse AWRY/AWTS boards and has committed to opening the slots up. But they have yet to do that. So, this is our suggestion to those who are furloughed but within striking distance. Call CMTS IMMEDIATELY and tell them you want to be put on the AWTS / AWRY board. (Yes, BOTH CFT and ROAD). But don’t call them once. Call them once a DAY. K