Posts tagged BNSF Railway
Opinion: When union leaders are not working for their workers
October 14, 2026 // The rail unions’ latest top priority, the Railway Safety Act, fits the pattern. Recently attached to the House transportation bill, its centerpiece is a federal mandate to increase freight crew sizes. Leadership loves it because every additional crew seat written into federal law is a stream of dues that cannot be bargained away for things members might actually want, such as higher pay or better schedules. Although union leaders claim this is about crew safety and cite the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment as their motivation, they have been pushing for enlarged crews for years before the Ohio disaster.
LA-Long Beach port rail service and union reach agreement
July 16, 2024 // According to the railway, “The CBA extension sets competitive wage structures while maintaining the same lower-than-rail-industry employee contributions for health benefits, so that the PHL workforce receives fair compensation for their critical role in the nation’s supply chain at the busiest port complex in North America.”
Labor unions urge regulators to press big U.S. railroads on employment and service levels
December 7, 2023 // Employment levels for train crews, maintenance workers, and shop forces is down 13% at BNSF, 22% at CSX, 28% at NS, and 26% at UP compared to 2016, the unions say. “The railroads credit themselves with having increased employment since this Agency held hearings regarding the service failures of the Class I’s in April of 2022. But climbing a few rungs up a ladder in a hole does not mean one is out of the hole,” Edelman wrote. The reductions in staffing levels significantly exceed the decline in rail volume, he says. The smaller workforce means that fewer employees have to inspect, maintain, and repair the same infrastructure. Edelman also says that despite train and engine crew hiring efforts, the railroads remain understaffed and are pressuring employees to work without days off.