Current:Home > FinanceBNSF train engineers offered paid sick time and better schedules in new deal -Prosperity Pathways
BNSF train engineers offered paid sick time and better schedules in new deal
View
Date:2025-04-18 18:47:44
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Roughly 7,500 BNSF train engineers may soon get up to eight days of paid sick time and more certainty about their days off if they approve a new deal with the railroad announced Tuesday.
BNSF and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union said engineers will get more predictable schedules and the ability to take sick time off without being penalized under the Fort Worth-Texas based railroad’s strict attendance policy.
The major freight railroads have made a great deal of progress on the sick time issue since workers’ quality of life concerns pushed the industry to the brink of a strike last year before Congress forced the unions to accept a contract. More than 77% of all those workers have now been promised sick time. The railroads refused to add sick time to last year’s deal that included 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses.
BNSF engineers will get five days of paid sick leave and be permitted to convert three other leave days into sick time each year. That’s better than most other deals rail workers have made that provide for up to seven days of sick time through a combination of paid days and existing leave days. In all these deals, railroads promised to pay workers for any unused sick time at the end of each year.
In addition to sick time, this agreement will establish a scheduling model across BNSF that will help engineers predict when they will be scheduled to be off. The details may vary somewhat across the railroad, but BNSF generally promised to try to give engineers three days off after they work six days in a row.
The deal also includes a number of smaller changes in the complicated rules that determine when engineers have to report to work that the railroad and union said would “bring positive changes to both the professional and personal lives of locomotive engineers.”
Engineers will also be able to earn four additional paid days off a year for every quarter they work without taking an unplanned unpaid day off from work.
After this agreement, the engineers union now has deals to improve schedules with all the major freight railroads, including BNSF, Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, CSX, Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City. But it still lacks sick time deals with CSX and both Canadian railroads.
Norfolk Southern and UP are the only railroads so far to announce sick time deals with all their unions. But BNSF said it now has deals with all but one of its unions after this agreement.
BNSF spokesperson Kendall Kirkham Sloan said the railroad is glad it has reached these deals “to help BNSF modernize its agreements to the benefit of its employees and their members. BNSF remains committed to continued dialogue, for those few remaining crafts that do not already have them.”
BNSF is one of the nation’s largest railroads, with about 32,500 miles of track in the west. It’s owned by Warren Buffett’s Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate.
veryGood! (1)
Related
- Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie return for an 'Encore,' reminisce about 'The Simple Life'
- This new restaurant bans anyone under 30: Here's why
- Elon Musk drops lawsuit against ChatGPT-maker OpenAI without explanation
- Officer uses Taser on fan who ran onto GABP field, did backflip at Reds-Guardians game
- New Zealand official reverses visa refusal for US conservative influencer Candace Owens
- FBI data show sharp drop in violent crime but steepness is questioned
- FBI quarterly report shows 15% drop in violent crime compared to last year
- Former Trump attorney in Wisconsin suspended from state judicial ethics panel
- Former longtime South Carolina congressman John Spratt dies at 82
- What’s next for Hunter Biden after his conviction on federal gun charges
Ranking
- 'As foretold in the prophecy': Elon Musk and internet react as Tesla stock hits $420 all
- The Friday Afternoon Club: Griffin Dunne on a literary family's legacy
- Tiger Woods feeling at home with 'hot, humid' conditions at US Open
- Virginia deputy dies after altercation with bleeding moped rider he was trying to help
- The Best Stocking Stuffers Under $25
- Glen Powell learns viral 'date with a cannibal' story was fake: 'False alarm'
- Top investigator in Karen Read murder case questioned over inappropriate texts
- Paris Hilton Shares Insight Into Sofia Richie's New Chapter as a Mom
Recommendation
Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
Bankruptcy case of Deion Sanders' son Shilo comes down to these two things: What to know
South Carolina baseball lures former LSU coach Paul Mainieri out of retirement
Alabama seeks more nitrogen executions, despite concern over the method
Sarah J. Maas books explained: How to read 'ACOTAR,' 'Throne of Glass' in order.
American investor Martin Shkreli accused of copying and sharing one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album
Sam Brown, Jacky Rosen win Nevada Senate primaries to set up November matchup
Oprah Winfrey is recovering after emergency room trip for gastroenteritis