Administration officials urge three Class I railroads to guarantee paid sick leave

WASHINGTON — U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and acting Department of Labor Secretary Julie Su sent a letter today (Wednesday, Sept. 25) urging the CEOs of three Class I freight railroads to guarantee paid sick leave for all employees. One of the railroads, CSX, responded that two unions have rejected its efforts to do exactly that. Another, CPKC, said sick leave negotiations with its unions are ongoing.

According to a news release from the DOT, Buttigieg and Su wrote to CEOs for CPKC and fellow Canadian railroad CN, as well as U.S.-based CSX. The letter highlights progress made for paid sick leave by the industry. It stated that since the end of 2022, the number of Class I freight railroad employees who have access to paid sick days has increased from 5% to 90%.

“While we applaud this success, it’s cold comfort for the 10 percent of railroaders who stillndo not have paid sick leave,” the letter stated.

The railroads should engage promptly and reach agreements with each of their respective unions to address paid sick leave for all employees, the letter added.

“This does not have to wait for national negotiations; your railroad should come to terms immediately with your labor unions,” it stated. “As our administration has noted, we are not satisfied with the current trajectory of railroad safety in America and see no reason for delay in making the rail industry safer.”

In the release, Buttigieg and Su stated that paid sick days help prevent safety risks and protect the public by ensuring healthy railroad workers are on the job.

“Workers in this country deserve to know that they won’t have to choose between getting well and putting food on the table,” Su said in the release.  “That’s not who we are — which is why Secretary Buttigieg and I are calling on the final three freight rail companies to do right by their workers and ensure paid sick leave for all of their employees. The unions and companies have come a long way on this issue, but it’s time to finish the job and protect the people who keep our country moving forward.”

In February 2023, shortly after the Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, the Biden administration called on Class I railroads to take specific actions to increase accountability and safety. One of these actions was enacting paid sick leave access to more than 100,000 workers that those railroads employ.

Railroads respond

In an emailed response provided by the railroad, CSX CEO Joe Hinrichs said the railroad has two unions that have not agreed to the same basic paid sick leave agreements accepted by all other unions.

Hinrichs said CSX has offered agreements to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS) on multiple occasions. He said he personally flew to Cleveland for a day to meet with BLET to try to reach an agreement in August last year.

“In fact, as noted, two regions within our CSX network have already agreed to paid sick leave deals with BRS,” Hinrichs wrote. “Those offers still stand for BLET and BRS to work with us to finish the job.”

Hinrichs said CSX was the first and only railroad to work with the unions on these paid sick leave agreements. He also said CSX was the first railroad this year to reach tentative agreements with 11 unions representing over half of its workforce for national labor contracts – months before they expire at the end of the year.

“We have tremendous respect for our employees and the unions who represent them and we are working hard to improve our relationships,” Hinrichs stated. “So, you can imagine we are disappointed that two unions have not agreed to the same basic terms that all the other unions agreed to on paid sick leave with CSX.  It also happens to be the case that BLET and BRS are two of the three unions (along with IBEW and part of SMART-TD) that have not reached tentative agreements on the national contract with us as well. We owe it to all the other unions to keep our agreements consistent within the ONE CSX team and we look forward to working with BLET and BRS to do this on paid sick leave.”

BLET was not immediately available to provide a comment on CSX’s statement, but the union said it would provide more information at a later date.

A CPKC spokesperson wrote in an email that the railroad has 65 collective bargaining agreements in the U.S. Each one is different and nuanced, and all are the result of the collective bargaining process.

“As we have stated, and remained committed to, we continue to negotiate the issue of sick leave with our U.S. unions,” CPKC said. “We have sent formal sick leave offers to multiple unions. … CPKC and its unions have sick days included in multiple collective bargaining agreements in the United States. A substantial portion of CPKC’s unionized employees in the U.S. work under hourly collective agreements which provide many benefits, including higher average earnings, additional days off, personal leave days and more predictable scheduling.”

CN and BRS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

— This article originally appeared at FreightWaves.com.