The BLET, working in conjunction with the Teamsters Rail Conference, secured several key political and regulatory victories for the union’s active and retired members throughout 2025.
None perhaps were bigger than our successful efforts to protect the Railroad Retirement Board. Earlier this year, the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, sought to close upwards of 40 brick-and-mortar RRB field offices throughout the United States, with nine planned for immediate closure in 2025 and 2026. The BLET and Teamsters Rail Conference led a coordinated campaign on behalf of Rail Labor. Meetings were held with key members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, and the Rail Conference secured a sit-down meeting between BLET President Mark Wallace and White House officials. After explaining the vital role that field offices play in ensuring that rail workers get the benefits that they have earned, DOGE and the White House reversed course and agreed to keep the field offices open. The decision ensured that 690,000 active and retired railroad employees and their families will continue to receive vital in-person services.
In another action, the BLET succeeded in protecting jobs for American workers and enhancing border security by convincing the U.S. Department of Transportation to tighten rules and regulations related to cross-border train operations from Mexico.
After direct outreach for President Wallace to the White House, the DOT announced on December 19 that a lack of basic English language proficiency exhibited by Mexican national train crews operating trains into the United States posed a serious safety risk. DOT mandated that CPKC and UP crews entering the U.S. from Mexico cannot operate more than 10 miles into the U.S. from points of entry on the southern border. DOT also mandated that uncertified (and therefore potentially untrained) crews must stop at the customs inspection point and that any interpreters must be certified under safety regulations (49 CFR Parts 240 and 242).
“The Administration should be commended for standing up for border security, public safety and American jobs,” President Wallace said. “It’s critical that locomotive engineers are able to speak to dispatchers and first responders in English when trains are moving on U.S. soil and without question, trains moving beyond the border area should be controlled by American train crews.”