Freight rail unions stand firm on demands as strike looms at BNSF, other carriers
UPDATE: A tentative deal reached early Thursday averts a nationwide strike. Read the latest here.
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In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, railroad workers who ensured the safe transport of necessary goods across the country were hailed as heroes.
The praise ended as the labor dispute ratcheted up, said Chris Bond, a Fort Worth-based union official and rail engineer for BNSF, the railroad company headquartered in Fort Worth. And now a strike looms Friday that could devastate the national economy at a time when inflation and supply shortages are already wreaking havoc on American consumers.
“While the office people were sitting at home, we were all out here working on trains, working with each other, getting sick with each other,” Bond said. “And they said we were heroes for moving this country — right up until the contract. Then we weren’t heroes no more. We were nothing.”
In the meantime, carriers were collecting record profits. BNSF reported $5.99 billion in net income in 2021, up 16% from 2020.
Rail workers have been working without a contract since July 2019. They haven’t had raises in three years, Bond said.
Days from a strike that could halt interstate commerce and cost $2 billion a day, Bond wants the public to know this standoff isn’t primarily about money. It’s about working conditions that are causing the industry to hemorrhage railroad employees.
Without an agreement, or intervention from Congress, the 12 unions representing the nation’s 115,000 unionized railroad workers could strike at 12:01 a.m. Eastern on Friday. That’s when a cooling-off period expires that has prevented a strike or lock-out.
Of the 12 rail unions, nine have reached tentative agreements with carriers; they’re now subject to member votes. So far, two have been ratified.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 19 announced Wednesday morning that its tentative agreement was rejected by members. A strike authorization vote was approved.
The White House is putting pressure on both sides to resolve the conflict to avoid an economically catastrophic strike, while urgently cobbling together contingency plans.
Carriers have already started an embargo on hazardous materials ahead of a potential strike. Amtrak announced it’s canceling all long-distance trains starting Thursday.
While railroad carriers and the unions aren’t far apart on provisions like wages and benefits, there remains a chasm on work rules that determine grueling schedules.
“We’re not asking for a million dollars here,” said Bond. “We’re asking for them to let people have days off.”
How we got here
The industry is in a stand-off similar to the one earlier this summer, where carriers and the unions that represent rail workers came up against the expiration of a mandated cooling-off period.
On July 12, members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike.
To stave it off, President Joe Biden invoked the Railway Labor Act and appointed a board — the Presidential Emergency Board, or PEB — to make recommendations to both sides.
Biden’s order extended the cooling-off period for 60 days.
In its report issued Aug. 16, the board recommended a cumulative raise of 24% over five years, which includes an immediate 14% wage increase and is retroactive to 2020.
Railroad carriers had previously proposed a 16% raise over five years. Unions wanted 36% raises.
“They did some good things,” said Bond, referring to the PEB’s report. “But they missed the mark” specifically with regard to working conditions.
The PEB recommended parties meet locally to negotiate work rules.
In a Q&A released by the National Railway Labor Conference, which is representing carriers, the NRLC said, “Although neither side got everything they proposed to the PEB, now is the time to use the PEB’s recommendation as the basis for a prompt and voluntary agreement.”
In an email to the Star-Telegram, BNSF external corporate communications manager Ben Wilemon noted the PEB-recommended raise is “the highest in industry history.”
He also said the railroads are prepared to accept all PEB recommendations, “including the referral of the parties’ scheduling rules to further local negotiations where issues relating to schedule predictability and time off can best be addressed.”
Work rules
For a Fort Worth-based rail engineer like Bond, an average schedule could include a 12-hour ride to Oklahoma City directly followed by a 16- to 24-hour unpaid rest period at a hotel, a 12-hour ride back to Fort Worth and a 10-hour unpaid rest period at home. On repeat.
Broken down, that’s about $25 an hour, said Bond.
“Target and Walmart pay $24 an hour now. It’s not worth it. You kill these guys like you’re doing right now, and people are going to walk away.”
The government requires 48 hours rest after an employee works five work starts. Bond says carriers will manipulate schedules to restart the count to avoid giving workers this break. “Railroads are basically slave drivers,” said Bond. “That’s the best way to put it.”
Over the last six years, Class 1 railroads have reduced their workforce by 29%.
To ensure proper staffing, BNSF says it implemented a new availability policy that went into effect Feb. 1.
It gives each employee 30 points, and points are deducted for days taken off.
Missing work from Monday to Thursday is a two-point deduction. A worker gets docked four points for being unavailable on a Friday or Saturday. Missing a Sunday costs three points.
A worker can earn four points back by being available to work for 14 days in a row including weekends.
Bond estimates 1,400 workers have quit as a result of the policy.
Zak Andersen, a BNSF vice president of corporate relations, said the policy, known as Hi-Viz, was implemented to improve accountability and consistency of crews. He noted the carrier has been responsive to employee feedback and made modifications as recently as June 1.
“It is important to note that there has been no change in how much time off an employee receives,” Andersen said.
BNSF contests unions’ negative characterization of the system. Wilemon told the Star-Telegram the point system “is not an issue unless employees reach zero points.”
“Points work both ways,” he said in an email, “as employees gain points if they merely remain available to work for two weeks straight (not necessarily working).”
Rail labor shortages have also been the subject of federal investigation.
An April hearing of the Surface Transportation Board found labor shortages were causing delays and limiting the quantity and types of goods that could be transported via train.
In June, the Surface Transportation Board ordered rail carriers CSX, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific and BNSF to come up with plans to address their performance, citing “short-sighted management of labor forces.”
What comes next
Just two months before the midterm elections, the prospect of a shutdown of interstate commerce has put Biden and congressional Democrats in a political bind.
About 28% of U.S. freight is moved by rail, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, and a stoppage would surely hamstring an already weakened supply chain.
To end the standoff and avoid a strike, Congress could intervene to extend the cooling-off period or pass a law codifying the emergency board’s recommendations.
However, Democrats are reluctant to spurn their organized labor allies.
“We are committed to the collective bargaining process and have faith that should a labor strike occur, Congress will intervene to prevent or quickly resolve the service disruption,” said BNSF in a statement.
Bond hopes lawmakers stay out of it.
“If they don’t allow us to strike and get a decent contract, no one’s going to work here anymore,” he said. “And the guys that are here, they’re going to quit. They’ve already been quitting.”
This story was originally published September 14, 2022 at 12:45 PM.
