September 6, 2026 | News, Regional Meetings, Top News
Looking ahead to next year, the BLET’s 2027 Eastern Regional Meeting will be held in Savannah, Ga., the week of June 28. The 2027 Western Regional Meeting will take place in San Diego, Calif., the week of August 16. Please make plans now to attend one or both of these...
September 4, 2026 | News, NS, STB, Top News, UP
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are circulating a signed letter urging the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB) to consider the consequences of the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern Rail merger for workers. Representative Val Hoyle (D-OR) led the...
September 3, 2026 | Convention, News, Top News
Delegates attending the BLET’s Sixth National Convention in Las Vegas in October are reminded that the deadline to make hotel room reservations is Friday, September 4. It will take place at the Horseshoe Hotel in Las Vegas, and reservations should be made through the...
September 2, 2026 | News, Regional Meetings, Top News
It wasn’t just organizing the unorganized on the agenda at the Eastern Regional meeting in Chicago. One session touched on internal organizing and fending off raids and misinformation. Indiana Harbor Belt General Chairman Dan Wells explained how improved internal...
September 2, 2026 | News, Top News
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (seated) hosted a signing ceremony earlier this week for H.B. 973, a bill designating the interchange between I-480 and 150th Street in Cleveland as the SPC Louis P. Shuster Memorial Interchange. On March 7, 2023, Brother Lou — President of...
September 1, 2026 | News, Organizing, Regional Meetings, Top News
One of the highlights of the Eastern Regional meeting was a roundtable discussion with two of the union’s newest members, Tandi Colibert of Watco and Bailey Price of the Utah Central. Both recently helped organize their short line railroads with support from BLET....
August 31, 2026 | News, Regional Meetings, Top News
BLET National President Mark Wallace, in his state of the union address at the union’s Eastern Regional Meeting last week in Chicago, called the proposed merger of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern “one of the greatest threats facing our members today.” Addressing...
August 30, 2026 | News, Obituary, Top News
The BLET National Division extends deepest condolences to the family of retired BLET General Chairman Jack McDermott, who passed away on August 11 at the age of 106. McDermott hired out with the Union Pacific in 1941 as a fireman, and was one of the last locomotive...
August 27, 2026 | 2-man Crews, FRA, News, Top News
On August 27, the Georgia Central Railroad — a BLET-represented short line — withdrew a petition it had filed with the Federal Railroad Administration requesting special approval to utilize one-person crew operations. BLET is the only union that represents workers on...
August 26, 2026 | News, NS, STB, Top News, UP
The railroad industry, including rail labor, likes to throw around a lot of letters. There’s an “alphabet soup” of acronyms that frequently appear in industry and union news sites and publications, including this one — for example, AAR, ARU, BLET, CSXT, DOT, FRA, and...
