Teamsters Rail Conference

Thousands of Teamsters rail workers ratify new national contract

In a significant win for rail workers across the United States, over 8,700 members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED) of the Teamsters Rail Conference have voted to approve a new contract with the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC).

The agreement covers workers from more than 20 railroads who bargained collectively through the NCCC. They include welders, track inspectors and electricians.

BMWED President Tony Cardwell in a release emphasized the broad...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/thousands-of-teamsters-rail-workers-ratify-new-national-contract

Shippers, unions, railroads take sides at Senate hearing

A photograph of a train traveling through a desert.

The debate about how much oversight Congress and the Surface Transportation Board (STB) should have regarding freight rail operations and rates took center stage at a hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee last week.

At one corner was the Association of American Railroads (AAR), which represents the Class I railroads operating in the U.S. and argues that the status quo enables the railroads to make the millions needed to maintain, invest and expand the nation’s freight rail network. At the...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/shippers-unions-railroads-take-sides-at-senate-hearing

Rail unions seek to protect benefits from spending cuts

A photograph of two train locomotives. There are two men standing in front of each train.

U.S. railroad unions want federal lawmakers to remove the unemployment and sickness benefits of the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (RUIA) from the list of government programs subject to automatic spending cuts.

The unions have pressed the two U.S. Senators from Ohio, Rob Portman (R) and Sherrod Brown (D), to co-sponsor language within the HEROES Act (H.R. 6800) that would amend the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 so that RUIA benefits would be among government...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/rail-unions-seek-to-protect-benefits-from-spending-cuts