Updated agreements includes sick time and pay increases

April 1, 2025 (BOSTON) - Keolis Commuter Services (Keolis), the MBTA’s operating and maintenance partner for the Commuter Rail, has reached tentative agreements with the SMART Transportation Division (SMART TD) union, which represents Commuter Rail conductors, and with the American Train Dispatchers Association (ATDA). These agreements, pending ratification by union members, will be retroactive to July 1, 2023, when the contracts first became amendable. Keolis has now reached updated agreements with 13 of 14 unions, representing nearly 2000 members of the Commuter Rail workforce.

“Keolis is pleased to have reached updated agreements with SMART and ATDA,” said Abdellah Chajai, CEO and General Manager of Keolis Commuter Services. “Keolis has now reached updated agreements with nearly all of our workforce, thirteen of our fourteen unions. We want to ensure that the railroad continues to be a place where people are able to develop a career, and we are proud of the agreements we’ve reached.”

“We are happy to have reached an agreement with Keolis on behalf of the members of the American Train Dispatchers Association,” said ATDA General Chairperson Sarah Guthro. “Our members are essential to the operation of the railroad and this agreement is a step in the right direction in providing them with the wages and benefits they deserve for their skills and hard work they contribute.”

“This is an outstanding contract for SMART TD members,” said Rick Pauli, General Chairman of SMART TD. “I would like to give credit to Cole Czub and Ken Owens, Local Chairmen of the North and South Side Conductors, for working hard for their members in coming to this agreement.”

Among other provisions, the five-year agreements include: paid sick leave, annual wage increases, unmatched health benefits, enhancements to the bereavement and vacation policy, and one additional paid holiday.

In addition to these two tentative agreements, Keolis has ratified and settled agreements with the following unions: Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), American Railway and Airway Supervisors Association (ARASA), Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division (BMWED), Brotherhood of Railway Carmen (BRC), Brotherhood of Railway Signalmen (BRS), International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB), Transportation Communications Union (TCU), Transport Workers Union (TWU), International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail Transportation Workers (SMART Sheet Metal), and National Conference of Firemen and Oilers (NCFO), and the International Association of Machinists (IAM).

Keolis Commuter Services has operated and maintained the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s commuter rail system, the sixth largest commuter rail operation in North America, for over ten years. KCS is a subsidiary of Keolis North America (KNA), both headquartered in Boston, and employs approximately 2,500 people throughout the region. KCS and KNA are part of Keolis Group, an innovative global leader in transit services with more than a century of passenger transportation experience and operations in 13 countries.

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