Daily Headlines
Police say man jumped on freight train, attacked locomotive engineer with knife in Minnesota
A man is facing felony charges for allegedly attacking a train engineer with a knife, causing the victim to flee by jumping from a moving locomotive Tuesday near Sauk Rapids, Minnesota.
AAR: Carloads up, intermodal down for week ending September 17
While U.S. carloads rose for Week 37 (ending Sept. 17, 2022), intermodal volume fell, bringing total traffic down compared with the same week last year, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported on Sept. 21.
BNSF says it can’t be sued by Amtrak crash victims
BNSF Railway has asked a federal court to rule that those who have sued over the June derailment of Amtrak’s Southwest Chief must settle matters through arbitration rather than lawsuits, and asked that state suits be placed on hold while the arbitration question is decided at the federal level.
UP to announce Q3 2022 results on October 20
Union Pacific Corporation will release third quarter 2022 financial and operating results on Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022, at 7:45 a.m. ET.
Chicago’s CREATE lands $70 million federal grant for Westside project
Chicago’s CREATE Program will receive $70 million in federal funding for a $170 million project to modernize a 2-mile stretch of Union Pacific track on the city’s west side, the partners in the Chicago Region Environment and Transportation Efficiency Program have announced.
Class Is log U.S. employment surge for August 2022
Year over year, the number of transportation (train and engine) employees was up 3.5%.
Coal mining companies complain about rail service, particularly in the East
Mines have had to curtail production due to poor rail service that’s only getting worse even as demand for coal rises, the National Mining Association told the Surface Transportation Board in a letter last week.
Business groups take aim at chronic rail disruptions
But business groups argue that there is more to be done to address poor rail service, which they say has magnified red-hot inflation.
1,000 Teamsters rally at Amazon HQ to call out company for exploiting workers, harming communities
One thousand Teamsters and local community supporters held a massive rally today outside of Amazon’s corporate headquarters in Seattle to demand the company end its union busting tactics and dangerous labor practices. The rally coincided with the Teamsters Women’s Conference, being held in Seattle this week.
NTSB releases preliminary report on fatal UP accident in August 2022
A preliminary report has been issued regarding the deadly train derailment in the Lower Valley in August.
UP conductor alleges he suffered injuries during transport to train
He claims the Union Pacific employee driving the transport, failed to wait for a train to clear the vehicle crossing, reversed course and went around the train and slammed into a telephone/light pole.
There may not be a strike at freight railroads, but the service is still terrible
The fact that there is not a freight railroad strike happening this week is a huge win for the US economy and its still struggling supply chain.
As stopgap to relieve crew shortages, CSX seeks transfers to Water Level Route terminals
In system notices sent last week, CSX said it was seeking train and engine crews to temporarily transfer to Buffalo, Syracuse, and Selkirk, N.Y., as well as West Springfield, Mass., and Philadelphia.
Rail customers ask Congress to reauthorize STB
Although they welcomed the new tentative agreement between the railroads and labor unions, the industry’s customers are calling on Congress to help resolve other freight-rail problems that continue to harm the U.S. economy and prolong the U.S. supply-chain crisis.
Opinion: Cheap at twice the price
And I think railroad management has to recognize the bargain it gets, and adjust its scheduling, staffing and service requirements to enhance the ability of this bargain resource to do what it has done over the past forty years—deliver the goods.
Incoming CSX CEO talks about improving service, engaging labor
Hinrichs has served as president of Ford Motor Co.’s automotive business, handling its global operations as well as the Ford and Lincoln brands.
No injuries reported as NS train derails in Southern Illinois
Twenty-six cars of a Norfolk Southern train derailed Monday morning between the towns of Albers and New Baden, leading to an extensive response from authorities that included a hazardous-materials team as a precautionary measure. No injuries were reported.
Editorial: Rail workers’ struggle shows the power of organized working class
Top level government officials, even the president himself, were compelled to make the grievances of railroad workers their top priority. This is testament to the huge power that the working class holds when it is organized and willing to fight.
A rail strike averted reminds us that there is power in a union
The short story behind the now-averted railroad strike is this: The largest freight railroad carriers in the country were willing to cripple the transportation infrastructure of the United States rather than allow their workers to take the occasional day off to see a doctor or attend to their families.
Death on a train: A tragedy that helped fuel the railroad showdown
Aaron Hiles, a locomotive engineer, told his wife he “felt different,” though he couldn’t say exactly how. He made an appointment to see a doctor, his family said. But then his employer, BNSF, one of the largest freight rail carriers in the nation, unexpectedly called him into work.
BLET News
BLET Advisory Board Resolution on Tentative National Freight Agreement
IT IS NOW HEREBY RESOLVED:
1. The Advisory Board unanimously supports the decision made by the National Wage Committee to send the Tentative Agreement to the membership for their consideration.
2. The Advisory Board further recognizes that our Bylaws require that the membership be given the right to vote on the contract, and fully respects their right to vote in favor of or against the Tentative Agreement. Should the Tentative Agreement fail ratification, every member of the Advisory Board will be on the picket line with the membership when the cooling-off period ends.
Laveing reelected Chairman of Pennsylvania State Legislative Board
Brother Tim M. Laveing was reelected by acclamation to his second term as Chairman of the Pennsylvania State Legislative Board at its fifth quadrennial meeting in Hersey, Pa., September 7-8, 2022.
BLET announces timeline for balloting in Tentative National Agreement
Once the Q&A session is complete, the tentative plan is to distribute ballots to the affected members on or around Friday, October 14, with a tentative count date on or around November 17, 2022.
BLET, SMART-TD reach tentative agreement with railroads
For immediate release, September 15, 2022 Statement by Jeremy Ferguson, President, SMART Transportation Division and Dennis Pierce, President, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen on Tentative Agreement Reached Early This Morning Between Unions...
SMART-TD, BLET Joint Statement on Rail Embargo
The railroads are using shippers, consumers, and the supply chain of our nation as pawns in an effort to get our Unions to cave into their contract demands knowing that our members would never accept them. Our Unions will not cave into these scare tactics, and Congress must not cave into what can only be described as corporate terrorism.
BLET, SMART-TD joint statement on Labor Day 2022
As we approach Labor Day 2022, our Unions stand at a crossroads. While our normal messages heading into one of the most important days for Organized Labor would be about Labor’s proud history of improving the lives of working-class Americans, we are embroiled in the ongoing effort to obtain a National Freight Agreement worthy of our members’ consideration.
Ballots to be mailed in tentative BNSF-MRL implementing agreements
“I encourage all of our MRL members to participate in this important balloting process,” President Pierce said. “Membership ratification is a core principle of our Union.”
Update on PEB 250 recommendations to national agreement negotiations
On Monday, August 22, the SMART TD and BLET, along with the other remaining United Rail Unions, met with the Rail Carriers via Zoom to determine if PEB 250’s recommendations could serve as a basis for a tentative agreement. In-person meetings were then held on Thursday and Friday in Chicago, Illinois. Unfortunately, the meetings did not result in any tentative agreement language that operating crafts would accept, or that could be presented to our members for ratification.
Make your voice heard on FRA’s proposed two-person crew rule
FRA needs to hear from you; we encourage members to post comments from your perspective as a locomotive engineer or conductor.
PEB 250 issues recommendations
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio, August 17 — The recommendations of Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) No. 250 were published on Tuesday, August 16. Officers of the BLET National Division, along with legal counsel and the BLET Wage Team, are continuing to analyze the report and...
