Current:Home > InvestBNSF train engineers offered paid sick time and better schedules in new deal -Financium
BNSF train engineers offered paid sick time and better schedules in new deal
View
Date:2025-04-14 14:50:47
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! (7)
Related
- What were Tom Selleck's juicy final 'Blue Bloods' words in Reagan family
- No. 3 NC State vs. Liberty women’s game interrupted by leaky roof from heavy rain
- No. 2 oil-producing US state braces for possible end to income bonanza in New Mexico
- Alana Honey Boo Boo Thompson and Family Honor Anna Chickadee Caldwell After Her Death at 29
- House passes bill to add 66 new federal judgeships, but prospects murky after Biden veto threat
- Explosions heard in Kyiv in possible air attack; no word on damage or casualties
- Golden Globes 2024: The Nominations Are Finally Here
- Dak Prescott, Brandon Aubrey help Cowboys pull even with Eagles in NFC East with 33-13 victory
- Kylie Jenner Shows Off Sweet Notes From Nieces Dream Kardashian & Chicago West
- The increasing hazard of black lung disease facing coal miners
Ranking
- Hackers hit Rhode Island benefits system in major cyberattack. Personal data could be released soon
- White House OMB director Shalanda Young says it's time to cut a deal on national security
- Man arrested, charged with murder in death of 16-year-old Texas high school student
- Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's Love Story Continues at Latest Chiefs Game
- Hackers hit Rhode Island benefits system in major cyberattack. Personal data could be released soon
- Adam Silver plans to meet with Ja Morant for 'check in' before suspension return
- Jury trial will decide how much Giuliani must pay election workers over false election fraud claims
- Elon Musk allows controversial conspiracy theorist Alex Jones back on X
Recommendation
Juan Soto to be introduced by Mets at Citi Field after striking record $765 million, 15
Volunteers flock to Israel to harvest fruit and vegetables as foreign farm workers flee during Israel-Hamas war
Los Angeles Chargers QB Justin Herbert suffers right index fracture vs. Denver Broncos
'Alone and malnourished': Orphaned sea otter gets a new home at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium
Average rate on 30
The Golden Globe nominees are out. Let the awards season of Barbenheimer begin – Analysis
Taylor Swift touches down in Kansas City to cheer on Travis Kelce for her sixth game of the season
2 Chainz shares video from ambulance after reportedly being involved in Miami car crash