Last year railroads came under fire for not agreeing to paid sick leave for US rail workers during labor negotiations. “For months, railroads have been at the table individually with their unions to find a path forward on the quality of life matters that came into the spotlight during the round’s final days,” Association of American Railroads CEO Ian Jefferies said.
Sick leave agreement
The House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to approve a bill to block a potentially crippling US rail strike, but also to mandate paid sick time for the workers.
More than 60% of U.S. unionized railroad workers at major railroads are now covered by new sick leave agreements, a trade group said Monday.
Railroads have reached new paid sick leave agreements to cover a majority of US rail workers. Since the conclusion of the national bargaining round in late 2022, 40 new sick leave agreements have been reached across the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC) carriers with all unions, 10 of which did not previously have a set number of traditional paid sick days.
Union victory for sick leave
Union officials says, members of the Biden administration, including the transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, and labor secretary, Marty Walsh, who stepped down on 11 March, lobbied the railroads, telling them it was wrong not to grant paid sick days.
US freight rail companies nearly spurred a nationwide railroad strike last fall by refusing to grant paid sick days, but in a surprise move, have recently granted paid sick days to almost half their workforce which was welcomed by workers. After facing criticism for not offering paid sick days, the top rail companies like BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific have granted many of their 93,000 workers 4 paid sick days a year with an option of taking 3 more paid sick days from personal days all possible through labor negotiations.
“We’re very happy about this. We’ve been trying to get this for decades,” said Artie Maratea, president of the Transportation Communications Union. “It was public pressure and political pressure that got them to come to the table.”
Overview of sick leave policy
As of May 24, 2023, representing 57% of all craft employees, now have paid sick leave days in addition to preexisting short and long term paid sickness benefits already in effect across the industry. While not all agreements are the same, they are all the result of bargaining, just as they should be.
For years, freight rail workers weren’t allowed to call in sick the morning of their shift. CSX was the first to grant paid sick days to several of its unions and has now granted sick days to 61% of its 17,089 unionized employees. Hinrichs said granting paid sick days “is a continuation of the spirit of cooperation that we are committed to pursuing as we work together to improve the employee work experience, enhance the safety of our operations, and grow the business”. Union Pacific has granted sick days to 47% of its workers, Norfolk Southern to 46%, and BNSF, the largest freight railroad, to 31%. At those companies, eight to 10 of their 12 unions have reached agreements.
The contracts cover workers at carriers including Union Pacific, Berkshire Hathaway’s BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern Corp and Kansas City Southern.
Norfolk Southern said all of its unionized workers are now covered by sick leave agreements.
Also on Monday, Union Pacific reached an agreement with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) to provide paid sick leave to for its 5,600 locomotive engineers.
Under the agreement effective Aug. 1, members will have up to 7 paid days of sick leave. Five days will be considered paid sick days with the ability to convert 2 additional paid leave days for use as paid sick time.
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