Article III – Cost-of-living Payments

Part A – Cost-of-Living Payments Under Appendix D, Document “A” of Award of Arbitration Board No. 559 dated May 8, 1996

Section 1

Article II, Part C, Document “A” of Appendix D of the Award of Arbitration Board No. 559 dated May 8, 1996, shall be eliminated effective on the date of this Agreement. On June 30, 2002, the forty-eight (48) cent cost-of-living allowance pursuant to such provision in effect on that date shall be rolled in to basic rates of pay.

Section 2

Any local counterpart to the above-referenced Article II, Part C that is in effect on a carrier party to this Agreement shall be amended in the same manner as provided in Section 1.

Part B – Cost-of-Living Allowance and Adjustments Thereto After January 1, 2005

Section 1 – Cost-of-Living Allowance and Effective Dates of Adjustments

  1. A cost-of-living allowance shall be payable in the manner set forth in and subject to the provisions of this Part, on the basis of the “Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (Revised Series) (CPI-W)” (1967=100), U.S. Index, all items – unadjusted, as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, and hereinafter referred to as the CPI. The first such cost-of-living allowance shall be payable effective July 1, 2005 based, subject to paragraph (d), on the CPI for March 2005 as compared with the CPI for September 2004. Such allowance, and further cost-of-living adjustments thereto which shall become effective as described below, shall be based on the change in the CPI during the respective measurement periods shown in the following table, subject to the exception provided in paragraph (d)(iii), according to the formula set forth in paragraph (e).
Measurement Periods
Base Month Measurement Month Effective Date of Adjustment
September 2004 March 2005 July 1, 2005
March 2005 September 2005 January 1, 2006

Measurement Periods and Effective Dates conforming to the above schedule shall be applicable to periods subsequent to those specified above during which this Article is in effect.

  1. While a cost-of-living allowance is in effect, such cost-of-living allowance shall apply to straight time, overtime, vacations, holidays and to special allowances in the same manner as basic wage adjustments have been applied in the past, except that such allowance shall not apply to duplicate time payments, including arbitraries and special allowances that are expressed in time, miles or fixed amounts of money.
  2. The amount of the cost-of-living allowance, if any, that shall be effective from one adjustment date to the next may be equal to, or greater or less than, the cost-of-living allowance in effect in the preceding adjustment period.
  3. (i) Cap. In calculations under paragraph (e), the maximum increase in the CPI that shall be taken into account shall be as follows:
Effective Date of Adjustment Maximum CPI Increase That May Be Taken Into Account
July 1, 2005 3% of September 2004 CPI
January 1, 2006 6% of September 2004 CPI, less the increase from September 2004 to March 2005

Effective Dates of Adjustment and Maximum CPI Increases conforming to the above schedule shall be applicable to periods subsequent to those specified above during which this Article is in effect.

(ii) Limitation. In calculations under paragraph (e),only fifty (50)percent of the increase in the CPI in any measurement period shall be considered.

(iii) If the increase in the CPI from the base month of September 2004 to the measurement month of March 2005 exceeds 3% of the September 2004 base index, the measurement period that shall be used for determining the cost-of-living adjustment to be effective the following January shall be the 12-month period from such base month of September; the increase in the index that shall be taken into account shall be limited to that portion of the increase that is in excess of 3% of such September base index; and the maximum increase in that portion of the index that may be taken into account shall be 6% of such September base index less the 3% mentioned in the preceding clause, to which shall be added any residual tenths of points which had been dropped under paragraph (e) below in calculation of the cost-of-living adjustment which shall have become effective July 1, 2005 during such measurement period.

(iv) Any increase in the CPI from the base month of September 2004 to the measurement month of September 2005 in excess of 6% of the September 2004 base index shall not be taken into account in the determination of subsequent cost-of-living adjustments.

(v) The procedure specified in subparagraphs (iii) and (iv) shall be applicable to all subsequent periods during which this Article is in effect.

  1. Formula. The number of points change in the CPI during a measurement period, as limited by paragraph (d), shall be converted into cents on the basis of one cent equals 0.3 full points. (By “0.3 full points” it is intended that any remainder of 0.1 point or 0.2 point of change after the conversion shall not be counted.)

The cost-of-living allowance in effect on December 31, 2005 shall be adjusted (increased or decreased) effective January 1, 2006 by the whole number of cents produced by dividing by 0.3 the number of points (including tenths of points) change, as limited by paragraph (d), in the CPI during the applicable measurement period. Any residual tenths of a point resulting from such division shall be dropped. The result of such division shall be added to the amount of the cost-of-living allowance in effect on December 31, 2005 if the CPI shall have been higher at the end than at the beginning of the measurement period, and subtracted therefrom only if the index shall have been lower at the end than at the beginning of the measurement period and then, only, to the extent that the allowance remains at zero or above. The same procedure shall be followed in applying subsequent adjustments.

  1. Formula. The number of points change in the CPI during a measurement period, as limited by paragraph (d), shall be converted into cents on the basis of one cent equals 0.3 full points. (By “0.3 full points” it is intended that any remainder of 0.1 point or 0.2 point of change after the conversion shall not be counted.)

Section 2 – Payment of Cost-of-Living Allowances

  1. The cost-of-living allowance that becomes effective July 1, 2005 shall be payable to each employee commencing on that date.
  2. The increase in the cost-of-living allowance effective January 1, 2006 pursuant to Section 1 of this Part shall be payable to each employee commencing on that date.
  3. The increase in the cost-of-living allowance effective July 1, 2006 pursuant to Section 1 of this Part shall be payable to each employee commencing on that date.
  4. The procedure specified in paragraphs (b) and (c) shall be followed with respect to computation of the cost-of-living allowances payable in subsequent years during which this Article is in effect.
  5. In making calculations under this Section, fractions of a cent shall be rounded to the nearest whole cent; fractions less than one-half cent shall be dropped and fractions of one-half cent or more shall be increased to the nearest full cent.

Section 3 – Application of Cost-of-Living Allowances

The cost-of-living allowance provided for by Section 1 of this Part B will not become part of basic rates of pay. Such allowance will be applied as follows:

  1. For other than dining car stewards, each one cent per hour of cost-of-living allowance will be treated as an increase of 8 cents in the basic daily rates of pay produced by application of Article I of this Agreement. The cost-of-living allowance will otherwise be applied in keeping with the provisions of Section 6 of Article I.
  2. For dining car stewards, each one cent per hour of cost-of-living allowance will be treated as an increase of $1.80 in the monthly rates of pay produced by application of Sections 6 and 7 of Article I.

Section 4 – Continuation of Part B

The arrangements set forth in this Part B shall remain in effect according to the terms thereof until revised by the parties pursuant to the Railway Labor Act.