Article 44
Cost of Living Adjustments

1. Cost-of-Living Payments Under National Implementing Document dated November 7, 1991

The nine-cent cost-of-living allowance in effect beginning July 1, 1995 pursuant to Article II, Part B of the BLE Implementing Document of November 1, 1991, Document A, shall be rolled into basic rates of pay on November 30, 1995 and such Article II, Part B shall be eliminated at that time. Any amounts paid from January 1, 1996 under the aforementioned COLA provision (effective January 1, 1996) shall be deducted from amounts payable under Paragraph B. of this Article.

2. Cost-of-Living Allowance through January 1, 2000 and Effective Date of Adjustment

a. A cost-of-living allowance, calculated and applied in accordance with the provisions of Part 3. of this Paragraph F., except as otherwise provided in this Part, shall be payable and rolled into basic rates of pay on December 31, 1999.

b. The measurement periods shall be as follows:

The number of points change in the CPI during each of these measurement periods shall be added together before making the calculation described in Paragraph 3.a.(5) of this Paragraph F.

c. (1) Floor. The minimum increase in the CPI that shall be taken into account shall be as follows:

(2) Cap. The maximum increase in the CPI that shall be taken into account shall be as follows:

d. The cost-of-living allowance payable to each employee and rolled into basic rates of pay on December 31, 1999 shall be equal to the difference between (i) the cost-of-living allowance effective on that date pursuant to this Part, and (ii) the lesser of (x) the cents per hour produced by dividing one-quarter of the increase, if any, in the Carriers' 1998 payment rate for foreign-to-occupation health benefits under the Plan over such payment rate for 1995, by the average composite straight-time equivalent hours that are subject to wage increases for the latest year for which statistics are available, and (y) one half of the cost-of-living allowance effective on December 31, 1999 pursuant to this Paragraph.

3. Cost-of-Living Allowances and Adjustments Thereto After January 1, 2000

a. Cost-of-Living Allowance and Effective Dates of Adjustments

(1) A cost of living allowance will 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, 2000 based, subject to Paragraph (d), on the CPI for March 2000 as compared with the CPI for September 1999. Such allowance, and further cost-of-living adjustments thereto which will 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 3.a.(4)(c), according to the formula set forth in Paragraph 3.a.(5).

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.

(2) 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.

(3) 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.

(4). (a) Cap - In calculations under Paragraph 3.a.(5), the maximum increase in the CPI that shall be taken into account will be as follows:

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.

(b) Limitation. In calculations under Paragraph 3.a.(5), only fifty (50) percent of the increase in the CPI in any measurement period shall be considered.

(c) If the increase in the CPI from the base month of September 1999 to the measurement month of March 2000 exceeds 3% of the September 1999 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 3.a.(5) below in calculation of the cost-of-living adjustment which shall have become effective July 1, 2000 during such measurement period.

(d) Any increase in the CPI from the base month of September 1999 to the measurement month of September 2000 in excess of 6% of the September 1999 base index shall not be taken into account in the determination of subsequent cost-of-living adjustments.

(e) The procedure specified in subparagraphs (c) and (d) above shall be applicable to all subsequent periods during which this Article is in effect.

(5) Formula. The number of points change in the CPI during a measurement period, as limited by Paragraph 3.a.(4), will 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 points of change after the conversion will not be counted.)

The cost-of-living allowance in effect on December 31, 2000 shall be adjusted (increased or decreased) effective January 1, 2001 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 3.a.(4), 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, 2000 if the CPI shall have been higher at the end than at the beginning of the measurement period, and subtracted there from 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.

(6) Continuance of the cost-of-living allowance and the adjustments thereto provided herein is dependent upon the availability of the official monthly BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI-W) calculated on the same basis as such Index, except that, if the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor should, during the effective period of this Article, revise or change the methods or basic data used in calculating such Index in such a way as to affect the direct comparability of such revised or changed index with the CPI-W during a measurement period, then that Bureau shall be requested to furnish a conversion factor designed to adjust the newly revised index to the basis of the CPI-W during such measurement period.

b. Payment of Cost-Of-Living Allowances

(1) The cost-of-living allowance payable to each employee effective July 1, 2000 shall be equal to the difference between (i) the cost-of-living allowance effective on that date pursuant to PgParagraph3.a. of this Paragraph F., and (ii) the lesser of (x) the cents per hour produced by dividing one-quarter of the increase, if any, in the Carriers’ 1999 payment rate for foreign-to-occupation health benefits under the Plan over such payment rate for 1998, by the average composite straight-time equivalent hours that are subject to wage increases for the latest year for which statistics are available and (y) one-half of the cost of living allowance effective July 1, 2000.

(2) The increase in the cost-of-living allowance effective January 1, 2001 pursuant to Paragraph 3.a. of this Paragraph F. shall be payable to each employee commencing on that date.

(3) The increase in the cost-of-living allowance effective July 1, 2001 pursuant to Paragraph 3.a. of this Paragraph F. shall be payable to each employee commencing on that date.

(4) The procedure specified in Paragraphs (2) and (3) above 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) The definition of the Carrier’s payment rate for foreign-to-occupation health benefits under the Plan set forth in Paragraph C.4. of this Article shall apply with respect to any year covered by this Paragraph b.

(6) In making calculations under this Paragraph b., 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.

c. Application of Cost-Of-Living Allowances

The cost-of-living allowance provided for by Paragraph 3.a. of this Paragraph F. will not become part of basic rates of pay. Such allowance will be applied as follows:

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 2 of this Agreement. The cost-of-living allowance will otherwise be applied in keeping with the provisions of Section B.4. of Article 2.

d. Continuation of provisions of Paragraph F.3.

The arrangements set forth in Paragraph F.3. of this Article shall remain in effect according to the terms thereof until revised by the parties pursuant to the Railway Labor Act.

This page last updated: 03/06/2005