BLET News
Health & Welfare: GA-46000 lifetime maximum adjusted for 2025
The lifetime maximum benefit for the Railroad Employees National Early Retirement Major Medical Benefit Plan (also known as ERMA or GA-46000) will increase from $195,100 to $202,900 on January 1, 2025. At the end of 2001, Labor and Management agreed on various...
BLET Education & Training Department: Secretary-Treasurer refresher courses available via Zoom in December
The BLET National Division Education & Training Department is pleased to announce an End-of-Year Secretary-Treasurer refresher training class. The class will provide a valuable opportunity to review end-of-year reporting and compliance due dates. In addition, we...
Ballots mailed for vote on tentative contract with Indiana Southern Railroad
Ballots for the five-year tentative contract with Indiana Southern Railroad are due back to the National Division by December 5. Photo: courtesy of Grady McKinley ____________________ The BLET has reached a tentative contract with the Indiana Southern Railroad (ISRR)....
Ballots mailed in tentative agreement with Huron and Eastern Railway
TThe ballots for the five-year tentative contract with the Huron and Eastern Railway are due back to the National Division by December 5. Photo: courtesy of Thomas Kurecka ____________________ he BLET has reached a tentative contract with the Huron and Eastern Railway...
BLET family needs your generosity as BNSF locomotive engineer recovers from brain surgery
Thanksgiving is a time for appreciation and gratitude, and there were many expressions of profound thanks as two BLET members were reunited yesterday for the first time since one Brother helped save the other’s life. On October 27, the quick-thinking and decisive...
President Biden orders second PEB in BLET-New Jersey Transit contract dispute
On Thursday, November 21, President Biden appointed a second Presidential Emergency Board — PEB No. 252 — to investigate the ongoing years-long collective bargaining dispute between the BLET and New Jersey Transit (NJT). The report of PEB 251, appointed in July, was...
BLET Short Line Department: Florida, Gulf & Atlantic members ratify first union contract
Railroad workers at the Florida, Gulf & Atlantic Railway (FG&A), who joined the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen to gain collective bargaining rights, have ratified their first-ever contract. This marks a significant milestone for train and...
Take action and tell the House to act on Railroad Safety Enhancement Act of 2024 before Congress adjourns
The BLET is urgently working to secure passage of the House Railroad Safety Enhancement Act of 2024 (H.R. 8996) before Congress adjourns. In a Take Action alert issued today, BLET members and their families are asked to use the Take Action tool on the BLET National...
2025 is right around the corner; Order your Time Book today
The BLET National Division is now taking requests from members who wish to receive a new Time Book for 2025. These books will only be distributed to members upon request. To receive a Time Book, members must first log in to the Members’ Area of the BLET National...
FIRST IN A SERIES: Understanding collective bargaining under the Railway Labor Act. Part 1 — “Section 6 Notices”
To better understand how rail labor and management reach agreements on rates of pay and work rules, the BLET has produced a series of briefs, Understanding collective bargaining under the Railway Labor Act, explaining how the Railway Labor Act of 1926 works. This...
ATTENTION FLORIDA, GULF & ATLANTIC MEMBERS: If you haven’t received your ballot you can still request a replacement
Ballots have been mailed to Florida, Gulf & Atlantic Railway members who are voting on a tentative contract with the short line railroad. If ratified, this will be the first union contract for operating employees at the formerly non-union company. Ballots are due...
Save the date for 2025 BLET regional meetings in Daytona Beach and Bellevue/Seattle
PLANNING YOUR CALENDAR AND DAYS OFF FOR NEXT YEAR? The BLET’s 2025 Eastern Regional Meeting will be held in Daytona Beach, Florida, the week of June 16. The 2025 Western Regional Meeting will take place in Bellevue/Seattle Eastside, Wash., the week of August 18....
Florida: National Mediation Board formally recognizes Brightline as a rail carrier
The National Mediation Board rejected Brightline's anti-union stance and directed a representation election to take place in the coming months. ____________________ The Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) secured a victory for Rail Labor on November 12 when the...
In Memoriam: Former Amtrak General Chairman Mark B. Kenny, 1951-2024
Recently retired BLET General Chairman Mark B. Kenny, who served the Amtrak/KCS/VRE/Caltrain General Committee of Adjustment for over 26 years, passed away on November 12. He was 73 years old. Brother Kenny was elected to seven consecutive terms as General Chairman...
New Mexico: State Legislative Board members lobby for rail safety legislation, conclude quadrennial meeting
Left to right: Steve Seale, Gil Tafoya, Gilbert Montiel, Christy Smith, Ryan Snow, Clem Harris, Charlie Jeffcoat, Vince Verna, Mike Willis. ____________________ Members of the BLET New Mexico State Legislative Board are fighting for passage of legislation that would...
Illinois: Two-person crew, one life saved
Conductor Tim McMakin and Locomotive Engineer Antonio Ramos have known each other for a long time. Both are members of the BLET Division 13 in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and have worked together countless times out of BNSF Railway’s Barstow Yard on the Barstow Subdivision...
Florida Gulf & Atlanic: Members begin voting on first-ever BLET contract
BLET Vice President Randy Fannon (far left) and BLET Special Representative Jorge Gomez (far right) with newly organized members from Florida Gulf & Atlantic in 2023. ____________________ In a significant milestone, the BLET has reached a tentative contract for...
Veterans Day 2024: Recognizing BLET veterans
Veterans Day is an important day of remembrance for our union and our members. The BLET has always been proud to support America’s soldiers and their families. Since our union was founded in 1863, our members have embraced the honorable tradition of service to...
Amtrak: Ridership on new Borealis service reaches major milestone
At the inaugural run of Amtrak's Borealis service on May 21, from left: Joel Mueller, BLET Minnesota SLB Chairman, Riley Richmond, BLET Division 27, and Chad Roehrich, BLET Midwest Regional Chairman-Amtrak GCA. _____________________ Strong public interest in Amtrak’s...
BLET welcomes Carrollton Railroad workers as union scores sixth organizing win since 2023
National Vice President Randy Fannon (front row, second from left) with workers from the Carrolton Railroad. ____________________ The BLET scored another short line organizing victory this month, marking the union’s sixth organizing win since mid-2023. Workers from...
Daily Headlines
FRA makes more than $2 billion in new funding available to Northeast Corridor
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) today issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) that makes available over $2 billion in Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Program funding for projects located on the Northeast Corridor.
Federal lawsuit claims CSX violated FMLA anti-retaliation provisions
More than 100 employees have been terminated or suspended since 2017, according to the complaint.
Whistleblower questions delays and mistakes in way EPA used sensor plane after East Palestine derailment
The U.S. government has a specialized plane loaded with advanced sensors that officials brag is always ready to deploy within an hour of any kind of chemical disaster. But the plane didn’t fly over eastern Ohio until four days after the disastrous Norfolk Southern derailment there last year.
President Biden to nominate Primus as next STB Chairman
President Joe Biden intends to nominate STB member Robert Primus as chairman, following the May 10 retirement of Martin Oberman.
NTSB: Improperly lined switch contributed to CSX collision in Folkston, Ga.
Three crew members were sent to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
AAR reports rail traffic for the week ending May 4, 2024
For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 463,106 carloads and intermodal units, up 0.0 percent compared with the same week last year.
Activist investor wins 3 Norfolk Southern board seats but won’t have control to fire CEO
Norfolk Southern’s CEO will be under more pressure to improve profits after the railroad’s shareholders voted Thursday to elect three of the board members an activist investor nominated, but he won’t be fired right away.
BNSF Q1 2024 earnings decline as coal volume plunges, intermodal traffic soars
BNSF Railway’s first-quarter earnings and revenue declined despite a 7% increase in freight volume.
Shippers express disappointment with STB reciprocal switching rule
The Surface Transportation Board’s reciprocal switching rule for inadequate rail service is a “missed opportunity,” the National Industrial Transportation League says.
What the proxy fight at Norfolk Southern means for railroad safety
Just more than a year after a massive derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train led to the release of tank cars full of toxic chemicals and increased attention to the issue of railroad safety, the control of the railroad is up for grabs at its annual meeting Thursday.
