For more information contact: Scott Slawson, UE Local 506 president, (814) 899-3108

Ahead of Wabtec Corporation’s Second Quarter earnings call this morning, UE Local 506 President Scott Slawson released the following statement:

Our employer, Wabtec, proclaims on its website they are “committed to sustainable transportation solutions.” Yet their actions tell a different story.

When UE Locals 506 and 618 began negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement this year, we proposed that the company work with the union and the Environmental Protection Agency to encourage the railroads to purchase green locomotives, the company flat-out refused.

Instead the company has provoked a lockout/strike among its 1400 employees in Erie, PA, the most skilled locomotive-building workforce in the world. Our members want to work to build the green locomotives of the future, but our employer refuses to provide family-supporting wages and benefits, or to resolve problems on the shop floor. Our attempts to negotiate solutions to these problems through the collective bargaining process have been met with stonewalling.

Instead of investing in its skilled workforce in Erie, Wabtec is trying to squeeze every last penny out of us. This is what has provoked the current dispute, which has now lasted over a month. We hope Wabtec will return to the table today with an offer that meets our members needs and that they will accept.

The 1400 members of UE Locals 506 and 618 who work for Wabtec in Erie, PA, have been on strike since June 22.

- 30 -