ATLANTA – Norfolk Southern and BNSF Railway have reached tentative five-year contract agreements with additional unions four months before the opening round of national collective bargaining. The Norfolk Southern agreements with five unions, coming on the heels of four tentative agreements announced last week, cover approximately 55% of the railroad’s unionized workforce. The most recent agreements, which NS reached in partnership with BNSF Railway and are subject to ratification, include the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers and Blacksmiths and the National Conference of Firemen and Oilers. Norfolk Southern also separately reached tentative agreements with the American Train Dispatchers Association, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division, and the SMART-TD Yardmasters. …The tentative agreements provide a 3.5% average wage increase per year over the next five years.