By JOSH FUNK for apnews.com OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Union Pacific says it will stop imposing temporary limits on certain businesses’ shipments while it reviews the policy that federal regulators and shippers criticized at a hearing last week. Union Pacific has put more than 1,000 of these embargoes in place this year — significantly more […]
‘We want to see attrition rates and quality of life improved’ By Joanna Marsh for freightwaves.com The drama about whether union members would go on strike has passed, with Congress passing legislation and President Joe Biden signing that legislation requiring all unions to ratify the labor agreement that union and railroad negotiators reached in September. But the battle […]
By Lori Ann LaRocco for cnbc.com KEY POINTS The strike was averted, but tensions between unions and class I freight railroads continue to run high. Union Pacific’s use of embargoes, a freight railroad practice in which trade is stopped in order to clear up congestion, is at the center of a two-day hearing at the […]
By Chris Isidore, CNN for amp.cnn.com The fact that a freight railroad strikedidn’t start on Friday is a huge win for the US economyand its still struggling supply chain. But that doesn’t mean freight railroads are providing good service to their customers. Many of the problems tangling up the supply chain, driving up prices and slowing the economy can […]
Railroads are prioritizing payments to Wall Street stockholders over everything else, including serving the public interest. By John Cassidy for newyorker.com In our click-driven world, the threatened strike at America’s freight railroads, and President Biden’s intervention to prevent it, represents last week’s news. But there are two groups for which the averted strike is still […]
By Lori Ann LaRocco for cnbc.com KEY POINTS The Surface and Transportation Board is calling Union Pacific management including CEO Lance Fritz to appear at hearings December 13-14 about the freight railroad’s use of embargoes. The STB, an independent federal agency with oversight of surface transportation, wants to question Fritz and other Union Pacific top executives about […]
By Lori Ann LaRocco for cnbc.com KEY POINTS SMART-TD, one of the largest railroad labor unions, voted down the tentative agreement with rail management, raising the likelihood of a strike in December. The BLET, the other largest union which represents engineers, voted to ratify the labor deal but said it will honor the picket line. […]
Oberman: While railroads are warning about a lockout or strike, their deep reductions in staff have brought about a mini-shutdown By John Kingston for freightwaves.com The chairman of the federal Surface Transportation Board got up Wednesday in front of a room full of railroad executives, analysts and customers and ripped the industry to shreds. At […]
By David Shepardson for reuters.com A group representing major railroads and a union that voted to reject a new contract said Wednesday they had agreed to extend a potential strike deadline until at least Dec. 4. The National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (BMWED) that represents 11,000 workers extended the […]
by Bill Stephens for trains.com Railroad and union officials working together on experiment in Kansas Union Pacific is running a small pilot program in Kansas that aims to bring more predictability to engineer schedules. The experiment comes as railroads have been having trouble retaining train crews and hiring new conductors at many locations across […]