UP explains absence from early contract agreements with organized labor

DALLAS – As BNSF Railway, CSX, and Norfolk Southern continue to sign tentative contract agreements with their labor unions well in advance of the start of national negotiations, one U.S. Class I railroad has been conspicuously absent: Union Pacific.

UP executives explained today that – unlike the other railroads – they’re seeking to modernize work rules as part of their contract talks.

“Some of the other railroads have started to enter into labor agreements with their unions. We, like them, agree that our employees are our most important resource and that they deserve very competitive pay and benefits, and as a matter of fact we think our employees are among some of the highest compensated in the industry,” UP President Beth Whited said at the railroad’s investor day this morning.

“However, we are so focused on our strategy of safety, service and operational efficiency we think it behooves us two spend some time with our unions in this negotiating cycle to talk about ways we can work together as part of our agreements to improve availability and modernize work rules so that as we emerge from this negotiating cycle we’re able to really ramp up our ability to provide that consistent and reliable service that our customers want and need from us. So that’s the focus that we have at UP,” she says.

CEO Jim Vena emphasized that UP’s not late – the national negotiation process can’t start for another six weeks, and the current contract runs through June 30 of next year.

UP wants the flexibility to use crews differently in terminals, for example, and continues to work on implementing new work/rest schedules as part of an agreement reached last year with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.

The railroad also aims to make changes to the way conductors represented by the SMART-TD union are scheduled to work and have time off.

UP has sought to renegotiate the scheduling deal it reached last year with the BLET, under which engineers work 11 days and then have four days off. That prompted the union to sue the railroad this summer because it had yet to implement the scheduling agreement systemwide.

Last month, UP told The Associated Press that it needs to tweak the deal that forced it to hire additional engineers to cover the shifts of workers getting regular time off. “The amount of work we’re getting — the starts per the 11 days that they’re available — is not anywhere near where both us or the union thought it was going to be,” Vena told The AP. “So we’re just trying to figure out how we can fix or tweak it. But at the end of the day, we’ve committed to people. We signed an 11-and-four deal and we’ll live up to our commitments.”

Meanwhile, BNSF and Norfolk Southern made additional labor agreement announcements today.

BNSF said it has reached tentative five-year agreements with SMART-TD, including the union’s yardmasters. It’s the eighth tentative agreement BNSF has reached, covering 46% of the railway’s employees.

“Thank you to our leaders who have worked collaboratively with us to reach these tentative agreements,” BNSF CEO Katie Farmer said in a statement. “We are proud to be able to give our employees this unprecedented certainty over enhancements to their pay, health care and vacation in advance of the next round. Today’s agreement sets our entire team up for future success in serving our customers while securing jobs for our employees.”

Norfolk Southern announced that the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen Division/TCU and the Transportation Communications Union (TCU) have voted to ratify their respective tentative agreements, becoming the first to approve new five-year contracts with the company.

“Employees have told us they are tired of waiting on a multi-year bargaining process to receive their hard-earned raises. I’m proud of the work this company has done, in partnership with our labor leaders, to address that feedback, reaching early agreements with so many of our unions,” CEO Mark George said in a statement. “Looking ahead, we will continue to collaborate with our labor leaders on critical safety, training, and quality-of-life initiatives to ensure we provide a safe and rewarding career for our craft railroaders.”

NS has reached similar deals with eight other unions covering more than half of its workforce.

CSX was the first Class I to reach tentative agreements with its unions prior to the start of national negotiations. To date, it has reached proactive agreements with 11 labor unions, covering 15 different work groups, amending 20 collective agreements covering more than 50% of its unionized workforce.