Posts tagged Transportation Communications Union
As an LIRR Strike Looms, the Empire Center Publishes the Disputed Contracts
September 14, 2025 // According to figures provided by the MTA, the engineers’ current average wage of $49.92 per hour is 7 percent higher than the industry norm. With overtime, LIRR engineers collected an average of more than $160,000 in 2025. The agency said negotiations have stalled because the unions are demanding 16 percent in pay raises over the next three years, which is 6.5 points more than what other MTA bargaining units previously agreed to.
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.
Two unions announce opposition to UP-NS merger (revised)
July 30, 2025 // Two unions — the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, and the Transport Workers Union of America — have announced their opposition to the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger proposed today by the two railroads. SMART said it will oppose the merger when it goes to the Surface Transportation Board for approval, while the TWU — which represents some Norfolk Southern workers — said it “strongly opposes” the deal and is urging regulators, lawmakers, shippers and unions to block the transaction. Other unions have also expressed concern about the creation of a coast-to-coast railroad that would cover more than 52,000 miles and employ more than 52,000 people, although few have done so in language as strong as that of TWU International President John Samuelsen. In a statement, he called UP’s safety record “shameful” and said, “There is no world where Union Pacific should be controlling a coast-to-coast rail network.
Union bosses across the nation cut large paychecks to family
January 9, 2025 // Every year, millions of dollars in dues paid by rank-and-file union members are collected by labor organizations and passed off to the family members of union bosses in the form of lucrative salaries, a Washington Examiner review of public records has found. Union bosses regularly employ close family relatives, such as children and spouses, in high-paying roles within their unions. Some of these roles pay hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. While union leadership has splurged on handsome salaries for their family members, and political expenditures intended to boost the Democratic Party, private union membership has continued its downward trend in recent years.
Flurry of contract deals come as railroads, unions see Trump’s election looming over talks
November 18, 2024 // But Hartford said “the morale is still poor” on most railroads after all the cuts and there is a strong feeling among some workers that maybe they could get more if they fight longer, so the Machinists rejected that deal. Conductors have also voted down all but one small deal on part of BNSF they have considered so far, and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union has been unwilling to sign onto any of these early deals. Plus, the third largest union that represents track workers split on the deals it voted on so far.
Factbox-Latest on Ratification Status of U.S. Railroad Unions to Avert Strike
November 10, 2022 // - Major U.S. railroads and unions representing 115,000 workers reached a tentative deal last week and averted a potential strike that could have stalled almost 30% of U.S. cargo shipments by weight, stoked inflation and cost the U.S. economy as much as $2 billion per day. Although a strike was avoided with intervention from the Biden administration, uncertainty still looms over the industry as most unions are yet to ratify the deal.