In a decision received this afternoon, a panel of three arbitrators has ruled that the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) policies of the four largest Class I railroads (BNSF, CSXT, NS and UP) violate the industry's national vacation and personal leave agreements. Among the victors are BLET members working for these railroads. Read More

Spreading good will and holiday cheer, Santa Claus made his annual visit to Appalachia the weekend of November 22. But he swapped his sleigh and reindeer for a ride on a CSX train. Read More

The Teamsters Rail Conference pledged to fight a new Labor Department rule proposed by the Bush administration that would make it much harder for the government to regulate toxic substances and hazardous chemicals that workers get exposed to on the job. Read More

What follows are answers to frequently asked questions regarding changes to the BLET's Short Term Disability Plan, which will become effective January 1, 2009. Read More

The Rail Workers Hazardous Materials Training Program will conduct the following hazardous materials transportation/chemical emergency response training programs on the George Meany Campus in Silver Spring, Maryland: Read More

The National Railroad Passenger Corporation Board of Directors announced today that it has chosen Joseph Boardman, a nationally recognized transportation industry professional, to become president and chief executive officer of the company, effective November 26. Read More

Train and engine service employees at the Western New York & Pennsylvania (WNY&P) Railroad have voted overwhelmingly to join the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen is making available a list of Frequently Asked Questions regarding changes to the Hours of Service Act that are going into effect following passage of the 2008 Rail Safety Bill. Read More

Many of you have questions about the new hours of service law and FRA Emergency Order 26. Our General Chairman, Matt Wilson, will be here on the 31st of October. We have scheduled a meeting together with Division 518 at the Joint Council of Teamsters Building in Tukwila, in the conference room, from 10:30 to 14:00, this Friday, October 31, 2008. Bring all of your questions, or forward them to me, and I will ask them at the meeting. Read More

All union represented railroad workers in the Tacoma – Seattle area are invited to take part in a joint union safety meeting without the carriers. Let’s get together and talk about how to build real safety on the job. Let’s discuss how we can keep ourselves safe from fatigue, faulty equipment, hazardous working conditions, and protect ourselves from the carrier’s behavior based safety and discipline programs! Read More

U.S. railroads originated 1,278,188 carloads of freight in September 2008, down 62,029 carloads (4.6 percent) from September 2007, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported today. U.S. railroads also originated 918,319 intermodal units in September 2008, a decrease of 44,959 trailers and containers (4.7 percent) from September 2007. Read More

RWU is in the process of constituting an "Education Committee" to put together two-pocket folders for all new rail employees / new union members. For too long the new union member has been ignored and left in the dark. RWU believes that an informed union member is an empowered union member, and the new member is the future of the union. Read More

RWU is considering running a long term national campaign to reform Railroad Retirement to provide for earlier retirment in various cases. This would be in the interest of all railroaders not just older workers. Please look over the following DRAFT Resolution and comment. Read More

Now that the last of the shop crafts has reached agreement with the carriers, this most recent round of bargaining has officially come to a close. As of October 2nd, all 13 freight railroad unions, representing 145,000 workers, have now ratified new contracts with the major U.S. rail carriers. The current round of bargaining came to a close with the ratification of a new agreement by 7,000 members of the International Association of machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM). The Machinists rank-and-file had earlier voted down a Tentative Agreement in Fall of 2007. Read More

The initial meeting of the Puget Sound Chapter of the Railroad Workers United took place Thursday October 2, 2008 in Tacoma, WA. with a follow-up lunch in Seattle October 4, 2008. Rom Kaminkow of RWU was in attendance of the meeting. Read More

Railroad Workers United will host a meeting on Thursday, October 2nd starting at 7:00 PM at the Longshore Workers union hall in Fife, just north of Tacoma. A poster with full details and directions is attached. Read More

The following statement is from Ed Rodzwicz, the president of the Teamsters Rail Conference and National President of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) about the Metrolink railroad accident in Chatsworth, Calif. Read More

Got this email from Jim Nelson regarding the importance of engineers making "train checks" on trains with dp power. The smart money says that this is the wave of the future for remote testing failures. If Engineers are not in full compliance with this rule when operating with dp power, they need to come into full compliance. Read More

On September 15, 2008, we have a planned change to the method of posting LETP classes across the BNSF System that will standardize the process for all Ground Service employees across the System and provide a one-source data retrieval for Road Foremen to assist in decisions regarding successful LETP candidates. Read More

Brother Richard D. "Ricky" Pendarvis, a member of BLET Division 523 in Chickasha, Okla., was killed in the line of duty on August 29 when his Union Pacific locomotive collided with a propane tanker truck near Medford, Okla. Read More

The U.S. Department of Transportation is postponing from August 25 to November 1 a new regulation that would subject employees to mandatory direct observation during drug tests conducted when a transportation worker returns to work after a positive drug test and during follow-up drug tests. Read More

Delegates attending the quadrennial meeting of the North Dakota State Legislative Board have returned Mike Muscha by acclamation as Chairman in meetings that concluded here on August 15. Read More

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, along with seven other rail unions and the BNSF Railway, has filed a lawsuit challenging a new Department of Transportation (DOT) regulation that would subject employees to a "strip search" during mandatory drug tests. Read More

Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen have reached a tentative contract agreement with Norfolk Southern. Read More