Gary D. Best is First Vice President of the 51,500-member Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), a Division of the Rail Conference, International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He was elected to serve in the union’s second-highest office effective May 1, 2025.
Best was elected to the office of National Vice President at the BLET’s Fifth National Convention on October 12, 2022. During his tenure as National Vice President, Best assigned to the six BLET General Committees of Adjustment (GCA) at the Union Pacific Railroad, which combined represent about 6,500 active members. Best assisted the General Chairmen in negotiating a first of its kind paid sick leave agreement for locomotive engineers, as well as an 11/4 scheduling agreement to improve members’ quality of life.
Prior to his time as Vice President, Brother Best served the BLET for nine years (2013-2022) as General Chairman of the CSXT Eastern Lines General Committee of Adjustment (GCA), which represents about 1,200 active members. He was elevated to the General Chairman’s office in September of 2013 following the retirement of his mentor and predecessor, the late Tony Smith, and was reelected by acclamation at quadrennial meetings in 2016 and 2020. Best was first elected to serve the CSXT Eastern Lines GCA in 2008 when he was elected 1st Vice General Chairman, a position he was reelected to in 2012 and 2016. Vice President Best served as Local Chairman of Division 498 from 2001 until 2013.
A CSX locomotive engineer, Best is a member of BLET Division 498 in Abbeville, S.C. He has held continuous membership in the BLET since January 1, 1995. Best began his railroad career in Danville, Ill., on September 20, 1993 when he hired out as a brakeman for CSXT. He earned promotion to locomotive engineer on May 31, 1994, in his hometown of Abbeville, S.C. He is a third-generation locomotive engineer, following in the footsteps of his grandfather L.D. Broome, a Seaboard Air Line and Seaboard Coast Line locomotive engineer (1944-1980), and his father Danny Best, a SCL and CSX locomotive engineer (1970-1990).
During the course of his career, Best has participated in various positions with the BLET and in every facet of membership representation at each level. Best has arbitrated hundreds of discipline cases and been a part of arbitrating over 20 rules cases pursuant to Section 3 of the Railway Labor Act, as amended. He has served as Division 498’s Delegate to the BLET National Convention in 2001, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022. Best served as a Member of the Credentials Committee at the 2010 Convention, as the Chairman of the Credentials Committee at the 2014 Convention, and as a Member of the Bylaws Committee at the 2018 and 2022 Conventions. He has served as Chairman of the Southeastern General Chairman’s Association and was a Member of the Executive Committee for the National General Chairman’s Association. Best also was elected to the office of Ninth Alternate National Vice President at the BLET’s Third National Convention in 2014 and Sixth Alternate National Vice President at the BLET’s Fourth National Convention in 2018.