Most U.S. rail workers approve of latest union labor contract that covers U.P., BNSF employees
Source: Omaha World Herald
By Russell Hubbard
Railroad labor unions representing the 15,000 or so industry employees working for Union Pacific and BNSF in Nebraska have been voting en masse to approve the latest collective bargaining agreement with the nation's train companies.
Bargaining started in 2015 between 30 railroads and 13 unions representing 145,000 industry workers nationwide. The bargaining is to replace an expired contract. In the rail industry, expired contracts are automatically extended as long as progress on a new one is being made. The last labor-related work stoppage was in 1992.
"It's good to see things heading in the right direction in terms of the rail labor contract," said Larry Gross, a transportation industry analyst with Gross Transportation Consulting. "With the economy growing at a good clip, any labor-related disruption to the rail industry would be an unwelcome development, both from an industry and national perspective."
Approvals began rolling in during December. The new contract covers many different railroad jobs, including conductors, engineers, clerks and electricians. Omaha-based Union Pacific employs about 8,000 people in Nebraska, while Texas-based BNSF has about 5,000 on the payroll. BNSF is owned by Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway. Both are freight railroads.
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