The U.S. freight railroads involved in collective bargaining with the rail labor unions have panned the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division’s counteroffer for a new labor agreement.

“Now is not the time to introduce new demands that rekindle the prospect of a railroad strike,” said the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC), the group representing the freight railroads in contract negotiations, late Wednesday. 

Six other unions have already ratified their agreements, the NCCC said. 

The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED) announced on Oct. 10 that more than 56% of its membership voted against ratifying the tentative national agreement that it had reached with the Class I freight railroads on Sept. 11. The deal included a 24% wage increase, $5,000 bonuses and an additional paid day off.

NCCC said the latest BMWED request for additional benefits is similar to a proposal that had been considered but rejected by the Presidential Emergency Board (PEB). The PEB was a three-person independent group appointed by President Joe Biden over the summer to work with the railroads and the unions on finding ways to resolve the labor contract impasse. The railroads and unions have been negotiating over a new contract since January 2020.

NCCC said Wednesday the initial tentative agreement also included “significant increases for travel expenses” that BMWED requested as well as “the most generous wage package in almost 50 years of national rail negotiations.” Rail carriers’ representatives also maintain that BMWED leadership initially hailed the tentative deal.

“Now, following an unsuccessful initial membership ratification process, BMWED leadership is asking for additional benefits and threatening to strike — this time based on the easily disproved premise that union workers are not allowed to take sick leave,” NCCC said. “The health, safety, and well being of rail employees is a top priority for all railroads. Rail employees can and do take time off for sickness and have comprehensive paid sickness benefits starting, in the case of BMWED-represented employees, after four days of absence and lasting up to 52 weeks. 

“The structure of these benefits is a function of decades of bargaining where unions, including BMWED, have repeatedly agreed that short-term absences would be unpaid in favor of higher compensation for days worked and more generous sickness benefits for longer absences.”

BMWED didn’t return a request from FreightWaves for comment. 

The union urged members Tuesday to lobby their congressional representatives to push for paid sick leave that would be offered at comparable levels to federal contractors. Railroad workers were considered essential employees during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, so they should have access to sick leave policies similar to those of federal contractors, the union argues.

The union and the railroads have until Nov. 14 to negotiate a new labor agreement. After that, BMWED could go on strike, per federal law.

In response to a question about the contract negotiation between the railroads and BMWED, Union Pacific President and CEO Lance Fritz said the disagreement might be related to wages and travel compensation connected to traveling to and from work sites.

“As the members were ratifying the vote, there was a section of [the deal] that they really didn’t have clarity to,” Fritz told investors Thursday during UP’s third-quarter 2022 earnings call. “We think that clarity makes that vote more straightforward.” 

Fritz also remains confident that the agreements will be ratified, avoiding a potential strike. 

BMWED, which is affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, represents about 26,000 workers who build and maintain the tracks, bridges, buildings and other structures on railroads across the country.

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