September 12, 2025 | News, Tentative Contract, Top News, UP
The BLET has reached a tentative on-property agreement with the Union Pacific Railroad covering rates of pay, work rules, and health & welfare benefits for over 6,000 BLET members employed at UP. Highlights of the tentative five-year contract include: General wage...
September 11, 2025 | News, Remote Control, Top News
The scene from Davidson Yard following the derailment of a remote control train on August 31. It resulted in a hazmat release and shelter-in-place order for nearby residents. Image: WFAA-TV ____________________ Another derailment involving a remote control train...
September 10, 2025 | News, STB, Top News
Surface Transportation Board member Robert E. Primus said on his LinkedIn profile that he received an email from the White House terminating his position on August 28. The move comes a few months before the STB is expected to receive the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern...
September 9, 2025 | News, Top News
A September 4 court order from a Philadelphia judge has stopped SEPTA from implementing a planned 20 percent cut to Regional Rail service but is allowing the agency to go ahead with a 21.5 percent fare hike. This is the latest development in the ongoing financial...
September 8, 2025 | News, Top News
BLET members working for Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) should have received a mailing from the National Division regarding the union’s strike authorization vote at the commuter railroad. Members who are eligible and have not received a strike authorization packet by...
September 7, 2025 | Amtrak, News, Top News
It was a bit of a homecoming for BLET locomotive engineer Ted Graham when he pulled back the throttle to officially relaunch Amtrak’s “Mardi Gras” service along the Gulf Coast on August 19. Graham, a member of BLET Division 18, previously worked as an assistant...
September 6, 2025 | News, Railroad Retirement, Top News
Projected Congressional funding for the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) is significantly higher than anticipated, thanks in part to the hard work and tenacity of the BLET and its members. Earlier this week, the House’s Appropriations Labor, Health, and Human Services...
September 5, 2025 | News, Top News, UP, Whistleblower
A wrongfully-terminated BLET member received more than $184,000 in back pay after the BLET got him his job back, and he was awarded an additional $150,000 in punitive damages after a federal whistleblower investigation found that the Union Pacific Railroad violated...
September 4, 2025 | C3RS, News, Railroad Safety, Top News
An investigation released last week on railroad safety from the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland — later broadcast on NPR, published in newspapers such as The Washington Post, and distributed by the Associated Press — quotes two...
September 3, 2025 | Amtrak, News, Top News
Representing BLET at the inaugural run, from left: Vince Verna, VP & NLR; Mark Wallace, National President; and Gary Best, First Vice President. ____________________ BLET locomotive engineer Earl Braxton, a member of BLET Division 482, was at the throttle as...
