Posts tagged railroad
2 big rail unions oppose $85B Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger over safety and cost concerns
December 18, 2025 // The unions’ decision they plan to announce Wednesday will make the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division two of the most prominent critics of the deal to create the nation’s first transcontinental railroad. They join the American Chemistry Council, an assortment of agricultural groups and competing railroad BNSF in raising concerns that this combination would hurt competition. But the deal has picked up the support of the nation’s largest rail union that represents conductors and hundreds of individual shippers as well as an Oval Office endorsement from President Donald Trump.
Trump administration slow-plays decision on expanding automated railroad inspection technology
November 18, 2025 // “The idea is, that while the train is in normal operations, this system is constantly scanning the track for defects, so the waiver would allow the use of this technology,” he stated. “The Department of Transportation’s Volpe Center, which is their kind of in-house think tank, has been clamoring for exactly this type of thing for decades, and now the technology has arrived that allows carriers to actually do it.” Scribner noted that the Biden administration was sued multiple times by rail carriers for, like Trump, slow- walking automated track inspection waivers, claiming that was “a situation where Railway Labor had had really captured a safety regulatory agency, which should be very, very concerning to the American public.”
Long Island Railroad Unionized Employees Are Ready to Strike on September 18
September 9, 2025 // Five unions could participate in the strike, representing about half of LIRR’s 7,000 employees. Two groups – the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers – began voting this week to organize the protest, while two others – the Transportation Communications Union and the International Association of Machinists – had already decided to do so a month ago. It is unclear whether the fifth and final union, the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, will join the initiative. A month ago, the unions rejected an offer of a 9.5% pay increase over three years, which had been agreed upon by some LIRR and MTA employees.
Port Strike Halts: Now What? Commentary
October 9, 2024 // Even a new contract agreement, if it does not fundamentally address American port uncompetitiveness, would prove to be only a six-year punt. Legislation has been introduced to move port workers from the main National Labor Relations Act governance structure that applies to most private-sector workers to the Railway Labor Act, which governs the railroad and airline industries. This change would give Congress and the administration more power to impose a negotiated settlement and prevent strikes, but the idea has been batted around for nearly a decade.
Railroad Workers Were Ready to Strike. Now They’re Fighting to Save Their CEO.
March 5, 2024 // abor groups representing Norfolk conductors, locomotive engineers, machinists and other workers have made public comments in support of Chief Executive Alan Shaw as he comes under pressure from activist Ancora Holdings. The groups account for over half of the railroad’s unionized workforce.
Commentary: ‘Worker’s Choice’ Is the Way Forward
December 13, 2023 // Employees trapped in union contracts need true freedom in the workplace, or what advocates have long called “worker’s choice.” That’s why on Wednesday, Rep. Burlison will introduce The Worker’s Choice Act of 2023. It would give workers a real alternative to union membership. Under this reform, employees at unionized companies could still become union members with union contracts. But if they opt out of union membership, they would negotiate contracts directly with their employers, as workers at nonunion companies do. The legislation wouldn’t affect non-right-to-work states, where workers are still required to pay union fees. It also wouldn’t apply to railroad and airline employees, who are required by federal law to pay union fees, or to government employees, who would qualify for worker’s choice only via state law. Every worker would win under this policy. Those opting out of union membership could negotiate the contract that’s best for them.
Despite rising number of strikes, union memberships remains low
September 7, 2023 // While the rate of work stoppages in 2023 is on pace to break the record set last year, union membership is still lagging at a record-low. So far, there have been 251 strikes in 2023, compared to 417 in 2022, according to data compiled by Cornell University’s Labor Action Tracker. Last year’s 10.1% unionization rate was the lowest on record, however, and workers have a long way to go to reach the 20% rates not seen in 20 years. While no comprehensive data exists detailing the success rate of recent worker strikes or labor disputes nationwide, some union workers have gotten their way this year.
Peltola urges pizza workers in Alaska to unionize so she can have a slice
July 19, 2023 // It may cost Alaskans more, however, to share a pizza with Peltola. Currently, a line cook at Moose’s Tooth in Anchorage starts at $16 an hour. No experience is needed, and it comes with an array of benefits, such as a 401(k) matching retirement plan, health and dental insurance, vision insurance employee discount on food, paid time off, and an energetic working environment. A sous chef at the Bear Tooth Grill, a sister establishment, gets paid $22 to $27 an hour. No degree is required, but two years of restaurant experience is requested. The average cost of a pizza nationally is $17.81, but in Alaska, that same pizza is going for $21.74, a 22% increase in cost for Alaskans over their fellow pizza eaters in the Lower 48.
Railroad unions hopeful Biden will act to give workers paid sick time
December 14, 2022 // 70 Democrats in Congress signed a letter asking for President Joe Biden or some federal agency to issue an order giving rail workers the seven sick days a year they were seeking. The letter pointed out that both the House and Senate supported legislation to do so, with some nominal Republican support in both chambers along with nearly unanimous Democratic support. But the legislation failed because it didn’t get the 60 votes it needed in the Senate. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter from the unions’ congressional allies. But officials with the rail unions said they have been talking to the administration about some kind of executive action to get them the sick time they’ve been seeking, and that they are hopeful action could be forthcoming.
New Demands by One Labor Union Renews Concerns about Possible Railroad Strike in November
October 27, 2022 // DuWayne Bosse of Bolt Marketing is optimistic it will not come to that. "I don't think we go into a full out strike because I don't think the economy can handle it right now and I think the Administration knows that as well, but that's why I think the unions are standing strong because they know that too." However, this is causing increased concern among end users and may slow shipments similar to late August, early September before the previous deadline for a labor deal