Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen

• August 02, 2022
• Class I

BLET, SMART-TD Weigh In on PEB 250

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) President Dennis Pierce and SMART Transportation Division (SMART-TD) President Jeremy Ferguson on Aug. 1 released a joint statement to their members, providing an update on the hearings of Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) No. 250, which within weeks is slated to make non-binding recommendations in the now more than 2-1/2 year-old dispute between most major railroads (and many smaller ones) and their 12 labor unions, including BLET and SMART-TD.

• July 26, 2022
• Short Lines & Regionals

BLET Ratifies New Contract with Illinois & Midland Railroad

Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) ratified on July 21 a new five-year on-property agreement that secures a general wage increase of 29% with the 154-mile short line

• July 13, 2022
• Class I

BLET Members Vote ‘Yes’ on Nationwide Strike Authorization

Nearly 100% of Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen members have voted in support of a nationwide strike, which BLET National President Dennis R. Pierce is calling “a showing of solidarity and unity.”

• June 29, 2022
• Class I

Three Unions Ratify Agreements With CP

Employees on Canadian Pacific’s Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern (DM&E) South; Central Maine & Quebec (CMQ) U.S. and Central Maine & Quebec Canada subsidiaries have ratified collective bargaining agreements.

• June 27, 2022
• Class I

Dissecting Failed Rail Labor Talks

It is more than two years since the rail industry’s 12 labor unions and management (representing most Class I railroads and some smaller ones) commenced bargaining to amend contracts defining wages, benefits and work rules.

• June 23, 2022
• Class I

BLET to Hold Strike Authorization Vote

Preparations are under way for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) to poll members, who the union stresses “have been without a contract raise for nearly three years,” to authorize

• May 17, 2022
• Class I

BNSF Modifying ‘Hi-Viz’ Attendance Policy (UPDATED)

Since implementing its “Hi-Viz” attendance policy on Feb. 1, BNSF has been monitoring progress and making adjustments, some of which will take effect June 1, according to the Class I railroad. Unions so far are unimpressed.

• April 20, 2022
• Class I

Court to UP: Cease ‘Antiunion Animus’

Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.” They also are very different from the labor union brothers and sisters they employ.

• March 24, 2022
• Class I

BLET, SMART-TD Seeking Arbitration Over BNSF Hi-Viz

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and the SMART Transportation Division reported March 23 that they will “proceed as expeditiously as possible to arbitration” over BNSF’s Hi-Viz worker availability policy that took effect Feb. 1.

• March 10, 2022
• Regulatory

STB Reauthorization: ‘If It isn’t Broke, Don’t Fix It’?

Railroad stakeholders on March 8 shared their views on the Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) role in regulating the freight railroad industry as well as its reauthorization during a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials. Testifying were representatives from the American Chemistry Council, Amtrak, Association of American Railroads, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, National Industrial Transportation League, and Private Railcar Food and Beverage Association.