News and Media

Reported by Joanna Marsh for Freightwaves.

The debate about how to manage visual inspections in the face of advances in safety technology continues. This time it’s railroad carmen defending the importance of visual inspections for brake testing and maintenance.

Union members are responding to Union Pacific’s request to the Federal Railroad Administration to extend a waiver governing UP’s test program for wheel temperature detectors (WTDs).

Reported by Taylor Kuykendall for S & P Global.

The question of a national rail shutdown may be up to Congress this fall, as tensions mount between railways and unions, even as legal remedies fail.

Unions and railroad carriers have been locked in negotiations over wages, benefits and workplace rules since a collective bargaining round kicked off in January 2020. While the railroads indicated a willingness to enter arbitration, the coalition of unions said binding arbitration circumventing a vote by their membership would not be acceptable. The deadline for accepting arbitration passed at 5 p.m. ET on June 16, sending the dispute into the first of three 30-day windows aimed at finding an agreement. At the end of that 90-day stretch, if no agreement is reached between the parties, congressional intervention could be all that prevents a national shutdown.

As reported by the Stand.

After more than two years of fruitless negotiations with the various Class 1 railroads and three weeks of in-person contract talks in Washington, D.C., the National Mediation Board (NMB) on Tuesday declared that a voluntary agreement is not within reach and offered binding arbitration to rail unions.

The unions representing railroad workers — who have gone without a pay raise for three years — will reject the arbitration offer, which under the Railway Labor Act sets the stage for President Biden to appoint a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) to hear the dispute. Ultimately, if that process fails to achieve an agreement and Congress doesn’t intervene, a nationwide railway work stoppage is possible.

WASHINGTON — Greg Regan, President of the Transportation Trades Department (TTD) of the AFL-CIO, released the following statement on behalf of TTD’s 37 affiliated unions, including all of rail labor, in response to the National Mediation Board’s proffer of arbitration to all parties involved in the national rail bargaining process, including the railroads and unions: […]

Reported by Joanna Marsh for Freightwaves.

A new labor agreement between U.S. freight railroads and the railroad unions may not appear anytime soon, both sides hinted late Tuesday following a federal regulator’s decision to halt mediation efforts.

Freight railroads, including the Class I railroads, and the railroad unions have been embroiled in disagreements over a contract since January 2020, with the National Mediation Board (NMB) stepping in earlier this year to mediate. The NMB is an independent federal agency that mediates labor agreements for the railway and airline industries.

Reported by Frank Wilner for Railway Age.

The National Mediation Board (NMB) on June 14 set in motion a ticking time bomb toward an economy-jolting national railroad shutdown within 90 days, its two Democratic members agreeing with rail labor—and over the remonstrance of carriers and the NMB’s lone Republican—that a voluntary agreement to amend unionized rail worker wages, benefits and work rules is not within reach.

Negotiations, dating to January 2020, involve 12 rail craft unions (bargaining in two coalitions collectively representing some 115,000 rail workers), most Class I freight railroads and many smaller ones. Management is represented by the National Carriers Conference Committee (NCCC). CSX is negotiating separately with two unions, representing train and engine workers, over wages and work rules (not benefits). Canadian Pacific negotiates separately with all its U.S. unions.

Reported by Joanna Marsh for Freightwaves.

The Federal Railroad Administration is now requiring the Class I railroads, Amtrak and commuter railroads to include fatigue risk management plans as part of their larger system safety and risk reduction programs.

The rule was published Monday in the Federal Register. The Federal Railroad Administration will review the plans annually, per the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, and it will also conduct periodic audits.

FRA said this rule is one of several ongoing initiatives to address the complex operational, environmental and cultural issues that contribute to fatigue.

Reported by Marybeth Luczak for Railway Age.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on June 13 published in the Federal Register a final rule on “Fatigue Risk Management Programs for Certain Passenger and Freight Railroads.” The Commuter Rail Coalition (CRC) and Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD) respond.

“Under the regulation, Class I freight railroads, Amtrak and commuter railroads must develop and implement a Fatigue Risk Management Program (FRMP) as part of their larger system safety and risk reduction programs,” FRA said in a statement. “Before submitting a FRMP plan to FRA for approval, each railroad is required to consult with affected employees to identify fatigue hazards, as well as specific actions to be taken to mitigate or eliminate those risks.”

Reported by Trains.

The Federal Railroad Administration has issued its new rule on railroad fatigue management, set for formal publication on Monday, and at least one rail union leader has offered a positive response.

The final rule, “Fatigue Risk Management Programs for Certain Passenger and Freight Railroads,” is available here for public inspection. Following its publication on Monday, it will become effective July 13. It requires railroads to identify situations with a risk of fatigue and mitigate or eliminate those risks, including such factors as scheduling practices and employees’ consecutive off-duty hours.

WASHINGTON – Greg Regan, the President of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, issued this statement in response to the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) new Rule requiring certain railroads to develop and implement a Fatigue Risk Management Program as one component of the railroads’ larger railroad safety risk reduction programs: “Fatigue is endemic in […]