FORT WORTH, Texas — A judge has granted BNSF Railway a temporary restraining order, blocking a threatened strike by two of its unions over new work rules.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports U.S. District Court Judge Mark Pittman said that his ruling does not address whether the dispute between BNSF and the unions — the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, and International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division — is major or minor, which would determine the legality of a strike.
Instead, his ruling says BNSF was likely to win the dispute on the merits of its argument that the so-called Hi Viz attendance policy is “justified by the terms of the parties’ collective bargaining agreement,” and that BNSF would suffer “substantial, immediate and irreparable harm” while the unions would not suffer any harm that the court or an arbitrator could not ultimately remedy.
The restraining order expires on Feb. 8, unless otherwise ordered by the court.
The unions, which represent about 17,000 railroad employees, had indicated they might strike Feb. 1 over the new attendance point system, which they say will penalize employees if they miss work for almost any reason [see “BNSF unions threaten strike …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 13, 2022]. BNSF says the new policy “is designed to provide employees with real-time information and greater flexibility, so they can make informed decisions about their work schedules.”
In response to the court order, SMART-TD issued an “urgent notice” to its members instructing them not to take any job action. “Your Union will continue to challenge BNSF’s Hi Viz policy in court and will seek to have the Court’s Order lifted,” the notice reads. “However, so long as the Order remains in place, all SMART-TD members must comply.”
— Updated at 7:20 p.m. CST with expiration date for restraining order, union instructions to employees.
Don’t forget to weld the executive bathroom shut and hand out bags.
Why don’t they implement this policy for non line managers and senior Executives? See how they’d like it.
So who was the clown at BNSF who came up with this policy? I’ll bet it was a mixture with the bean counters and the lawyers who were looking for a hole in the agreement that they could use. And people wonder why the RR have such bad labor relations.
Show me ANY other job where if one lost their spouse, or a child for example, they would be punished. That IS included in this HI-Viz attendance policy. ANY KIND OF ABSENCE/LAYOFF, be it paid (vacation or paid personal days), FMLA, UNB (Union Business ex. Local Chairman laying off to be in an investigation), DIF (death in family), or even Jury Duty, you’re punished. This is unheard of on ANY other Class 1, or any other job for that matter. BNSF’s current availability policy is a 75/25 split for “unassigned service” (extra boards, pools w/o rest cycles for example). This works out to just under 2 days per week your allowed to layoff (7 days per month – 2 weekend / 5 weekdays). This was extremely fair. Now, under this point system, if you were to layoff 1 day every two weeks / 14 days, so 2 days each month, you would be in violation after the 2nd or 3rd month, all depending upon the combination of weekdays, weekend days, or holidays. It’s all “point based” and the only way to gain ANY points is to work 14 days straight without ANY kind of layoff whatsoever. You gain 4 points if you work 14 straight days. For unassigned service, Mon – Thur your charged 2 points, Fri or Sat is 4 points, Sun is 3 points. So to be able to take off 1 weekend day, say a Saturday, you need to work 15 straight days. To have an actual weekend off, Saturday and Sunday, you would need to work 30 days straight to gain 8 points, as a weekend, Sat and Sun costs you 7 points. As for the discipline if you violate the policy, your first violation you’re suspended 10 days, your second is a 20 day suspension, and the third is your last, as you’re terminated. Once you receive a violation your points are reduced from 30 points to reach a violation down to 15 points. This is INSANE !!!!!
Any reasonable person can understand why the Unions want to strike and should be allowed too. This is unprecedented.
And if anyone out there wonders why the rails are having a hard time hiring AND retaining employees…this is THE REASON. Even the foamers don’t want anything to do with working for a class one.
I for one am glad I am RETIRED.