(a) General duty.

1. (1) Each railroad required to establish a system safety program under this part shall in good faith consult with, and use its best efforts to reach agreement with, all of its directly affected employees, including any non-profit labor organization representing a class or craft of directly affected employees, on the contents of the SSP plan.
2. (2) A railroad that consults with such a non-profit employee labor organization as required by paragraph (a)(1) of this section is considered to have consulted with the directly affected employees represented by that organization. If a railroad contracts out significant portions of its operations, the contractor and the contractor's employees performing the railroad's operations shall be considered directly affected employees for the purposes of this part.

3. (3) A railroad shall have a preliminary meeting with its directly affected employees to discuss how the consultation process will proceed. A railroad is not required to discuss the substance of a SSP plan during this preliminary meeting. A railroad must:

   1. (i) Hold the preliminary meeting no later than April 10, 2017; and
   2. (ii) Notify the directly affected employees of the preliminary meeting no less than 60 days before it is held.
4. (4) Appendix B to this part contains non-mandatory guidance on how a railroad may comply with the requirements of this section.

(b) Railroad consultation statements. A railroad required to submit a SSP plan under § 270.201 must also submit, together with the plan, a consultation statement that includes the following information:

1. (1) A detailed description of the process the railroad utilized to consult with its directly affected employees;
2. (2) If the railroad could not reach agreement with its directly affected employees on the contents of its SSP plan, identification of any known areas of disagreement and an explanation of why it believes agreement was not reached; and
3. (3) A service list containing the name and contact information for each international/national president of any non-profit employee labor organization representing a class or craft of the railroad's directly affected employees. The service list must also contain the name and contact information for any directly affected employee who significantly participated in the consultation process independently of a non-profit employee labor organization. When a railroad submits its SSP plan and consultation statement to FRA pursuant to § 270.201, it must also simultaneously send a copy of these documents to all individuals identified in the service list.

(c) Statements from directly affected employees.

1. (1) If a railroad and its directly affected employees cannot reach agreement on the proposed contents of a SSP plan, the directly affected employees may file a statement with the FRA Associate Administrator for Railroad Safety and Chief Safety Officer explaining their views on the plan on which agreement was not reached with the FRA Associate Administrator for Railroad Safety and Chief Safety Officer at Mail Stop 25, 1200 New Jersey Ave SE., Washington, DC 20590. The FRA Associate Administrator for Railroad Safety and Chief Safety Officer shall consider any such views during the plan review and approval process.
2. (2) A railroad's directly affected employees have 30 days following the date of the railroad's submission of a proposed SSP plan to submit the statement described in paragraph (c)(1) of this section.