Train and engine service employees at Transglobal Solutions/TGS Cedar Port Railroad in Baytown, Texas, voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining the BLET this week. Rail industry publication Progressive Railroading described Cedar Port, where the railroad operates, as the largest rail- and barge-served industrial park in the United States.
As has been the case in other short line victories, the 50 workers eligible to vote in this election cited obtaining better pay and improved working conditions as the primary reasons for wanting to join BLET.
Election results were certified by the National Mediation Board on October 1. This is the BLET’s fourth short line organizing victory since 2023 and the third this year. The BLET welcomed workers from the Arizona Eastern Railway in June 2024 and the COASTER commuter railroad in July 2024. Workers at the Florida Gulf and Atlantic voted to join BLET in 2023.
”We’ve seen a surge in organizing activity recently and we would like to keep that momentum moving forward,” said BLET National Vice President Randy Fannon, who heads the BLET’s Organizing Department. “Every BLET member is an organizer. If you know family, friends, or former co-workers who are railroaders employed at a non-union railroad that would like to be represented by the BLET let us know.”
The BLET Organizing Department can be reached at organizing@ble-t.org. A BLET representative will respond to those emails.
Contributing to BLET’s most recent organizing success, BLET Special Representatives Jorge Gomez and Brian Terpening spent significant time on the property meeting with the workforce to explain the benefits of belonging to BLET.
Transglobal Solutions photo