July 24, 2024 | Contract Negotiations, National Mediation Board, News, Top News
President Joseph R. Biden Jr. appointed Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) No. 251 to investigate the collective bargaining dispute between the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and New Jersey Transit (NJT). Pursuant to the Railway Labor Act...
June 25, 2024 | Commuter Rail, Contract Negotiations, National Mediation Board, News
30-day “cooling-off” period begins today as NMB releases BLET from mediation Today, the National Mediation Board (NMB), the federal agency that regulates labor relations for railroads and airlines, has granted release to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and...
June 25, 2024 | Contract Negotiations, News, Short Line, Tentative Contract
The BLET has reached a tentative contract with the Pacific Harbor Line (PHL). Ballots for a vote on a tentative agreement governing rates of pay for approximately 150 members were mailed on Friday, June 21. If ratified by the membership, the agreement would run...
February 15, 2024 | Contract Negotiations, News, Short Line, Tentative Contract
A contract ratification vote is underway for BLET members at the Missouri & Northern Arkansas Railroad (M&NA). Ballots were mailed this week to members to vote on a tentative on-property agreement governing rates of pay, benefits and work rules for...
February 15, 2024 | Contract Negotiations, News, Short Line, Tentative Contract
The BLET has reached a tentative contract with the Berkshire & Eastern Railroad (B&E). The tentative agreement governs rates of pay, benefits and work rules for approximately 30 members. Ballots were mailed this week. Some of the proposed contractual...
January 18, 2024 | Contract Negotiations, Headlines
(Source: Trains.com, January 12, 2024) A lot has happened, since Class I railroads averted a strike in 2022. CEOs and other officials at the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers Winter Meeting were happy to point to progress in labor relations. Which is good, because...
January 4, 2024 | 2-man Crews, Contract Negotiations, Headlines, Railroad Safety, Shippers, STB
(Source: Freight Waves, January 4, 2024) Railroads, shippers and unions are tracking hot topics ranging from service improvement to government oversight to safety regulations in 2024. Two of the items are federal action on rail safety and labor contract negotiations....
December 1, 2023 | Contract Negotiations, News
BLET members who operate regional rail trains for SEPTA in Philadelphia and the surrounding area have voted to grant BLET National President Eddie Hall the authority to call a strike. Results of the vote count on November 20 show that of engineers eligible to cast...
November 22, 2023 | Commuter Rail, Contract Negotiations, Headlines
(Source: Trains.com, November 21, 2023) Don Hill, General Chairman of BLET’s SEPTA locomotive engineers, said that SEPTA currently has 177 engineers instead of the 230 needed to properly maintain the agency’s regional rail schedule. BLET Vice President James P. Louis...
November 20, 2023 | Commuter Rail, Contract Negotiations, News
The transit authority’s locomotive engineers, already the lowest paid among major commuter railroads, haven’t seen a raise since prior to the pandemic Short-staffed and offering substandard service, SEPTA should have 230 engineers, it now employs 177 PHILADELPHIA —...
