Global Courant 2023-05-07 21:32:46
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Tens of thousands of engineers remain frustrated by the lack of paid sick leave and the demands that railroads like BNSF are making in the negotiations, despite the deals made this year for most other railroad unions.
The lack of sick leave and others concerns about quality of life about the demanding schedules Last fall, the work of train crews was the focus of negotiations that had previously been on the verge of a strike Congress intervened and blocked a strike.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union says the railways are still charging too much for sick leave instead of providing only the basic benefits they believe workers are entitled to.
“They want to talk the money out of our pockets somewhere else and give it back to us in the form of sick leave,” said Rob Cunningham, one of the BLET general chairmen who is leading negotiations with BNSF.
The BLET’s frustrations generally extend to all major freight railroads, but Cunningham said BNSF appeared to be acting particularly “stubborn” in talks last week.
The Fort Worth, Texas-based railroad is in the spotlight this weekend as it is owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and thousands of adoring shareholders packed an arena in Omaha, Nebraska on Saturday to listen to him answer questions.
Buffett had no questions about BNSF’s treatment of its employees, but Buffett is extremely aloof with Berkshire’s businesses and largely runs them himself. In the past, he has refused to get involved in labor negotiations at subsidiaries.
“You would think that with something as simple as paid sick leave, he could just say, ‘Do it. We have to do this. This is the right thing to do,” Cunningham said of Buffett, who is also a major philanthropist.
“But he clearly doesn’t practice what he preaches,” Cunningham said.
BNSF spokeswoman Lena Kent said the railroad has already made agreements to provide sick leave for more than 6,000 of its employees at eight of its unions, and “our intention is to eventually reach agreements that cover our entire planned workforce.”
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Across the industry, CSX led the way by reaching agreements with most of his unions on sick leave. Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific also announced several sick leave agreements. Most of these deals provide employees with four days of paid sick leave and give them the option to convert three vacation days into sick leave, giving employees a total of seven sick days per year.
“CSX is committed to ensuring that all employees feel valued, respected, valued and operate as one team,” said spokeswoman Sheriee Bowman.
Most of those other deals that have been announced focus on smaller unions that do trackside maintenance and repair work and generally have a more regular schedule. The conductors’ union – the Transport department of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers – has made agreements with NS and CSX about five paid sick days and the possibility to convert two personal days of leave.
The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division Union, representing rail maintenance workers, has been able to negotiate sick leave agreements with UP, CSX and Norfolk Southern, but they have had to fight to get that benefit without compromising.
The union of engineers has not reached a sick leave agreement with any of the railways.
One of the major remaining concerns for the BLET is that even where the railroads seem willing to give engineers sick leave, the railroads generally still want to hold employees accountable for missing work under their strict attendance policies. So even if employees get sick, they may not feel free to take advantage of it because they will still be penalized for missing work, even though CSX has said it won’t penalize employees for being sick.
“We will let locomotive engineers and conductors choose whether to work sick and handle some of the most dangerous items a transport group handles, but they will work sick or be subject to an attendance policy,” he said. Mark Wallace, BLET’s second most senior official.
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, who pressured railroads to give their employees sick leave and tried unsuccessfully to enforce it when Congress voted on the contract in December, said he was encouraged by the progress the industry has made so far. has booked.
Since the beginning of the year, more than a third of all rail workers in the industry have already gained paid sick leave. At CSX and Norfolk Southern, the share of workers who are now sick is closer to two-thirds.
But more needs to be done, and without compromise, the Vermont independent said.
“This should have been done years ago and it is high time for those companies to deliver all those benefits now,” Sanders said.
Sanders said all the publicity the railroads received last fall for refusing to grant sick leave was compelled to do so.
“Ultimately, the rail industry has come to understand that it’s just really hard to defend record-breaking profits and massive share buybacks and then say they don’t have enough money to do what’s right and decent for employees and that’s guaranteed to have paid sick days ,” Sanders said.
SMART-TD president Jeremy Ferguson said he hopes the agreements his union has reached with CSX and Norfolk Southern to secure five sick days will become a model for deals with the rest of the railroad. But he also aims to relieve conductors of the strict presence policy that has made them available 24/7 in recent years.
“That’s where we really butt heads with the carriers,” Ferguson said.
The deal SMART-TD reached with Norfolk Southern last week seeks to ensure that conductors know their days off in advance. Norfolk Southern spokesman Thomas Crosson said those new rules should help because conductors generally work six days straight, followed by two days off, and each week’s schedule will be more predictable.
