A dispute over labor that took place in Skagway among both the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway and its employees has been resolved. On Wednesday, both sides reached an agreement to keep the trains running and workers working.
Rail workers working on The White Pass & Yukon Route requested a raise in their wages to meet the rising cost to live in Skagway.
“Negotiations started about six years ago,” said Jason Guiler who chairs the local chapter of the union which is White Pass’s representation of 27 engineers and conductors from Alaska,, and brakemen. “It began at close of the year and was brought about by the changes that took place in our workplace, such as COVID, and also with selling the business in 2018, there are a variety of reasons for that delaying to now.”
Guiler is a part of the company’s trains that transport tourists across the mountains, and eventually into Canada. He has a variety of positionsat times he’s an engineer, other times he is the brakeman, or even the conductor. He said that people like his have not received any kind of raise for more than six years.
There was one more issue. Tyler Rose, the executive director of White Pass and Yukon Route The company was considering moving away from the brakeman’s position in the trains. The position could be automated.
“What We were looking for was technology, and into the future, the possibilities of destroying something,” He stated.
Guiler claims the workers did not agree.
“That brakeman’s role the third person who is on the train, is crucial,” he said.
He added that with just three employees in charge of the safety of as many as 600 passengers, they didn’t want to see the job eliminated.
“Though automation is effective in certain areas, and has in some capacity been utilized in a shipping line with success, it isn’t a good idea to incorporate human elements to it,” he said.
Rose claims that the company has conceded.
“It really comes down to the balance between efficiency and the right thing to do in managing the employees in a positive and productive way,” he said.
In the end, the parties came up with an agreement. The brakeman’s position would stay and health benefits would be preserved as well as workers will receive an increase in their wages. Rose says he’s happy with the deal.
“It’s an enormous wage increase that we’re pleased with and our employees are also happy. We’re really pleased to move forward with this increase,” said the CEO.
Guiler claims that a majority of workers voted in favor of the agreement. The agreement was signed and came into effect on the 26th of July.
“We are looking forward to being working together to continue to move forward and be confident that we will be able to share those success together with the company,” he said.
The agreement will be available to review in 2027.
