General Information

Rail Labor representatives joined Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Senator Mike Braun (R-Indiana) at a press conference in Washington D.C. on February 9 to demand that rail companies provide workers with at least seven paid sick days. Senator Sanders said that Americans are sick and tired of the kind of corporate greed we are seeing…

(Source: Progressive Railroading, February 6, 2023) Twelve rail labor unions of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO, have adopted a resolution that calls for the nation’s freight railroads to give all railroad workers paid sick leave. The resolution states that the majority of rail workers don’t have paid sick leave and are all subject to discipline…

(Source: Progressive Railroading, February 8, 2023) Class Is employed 119,349 people as of mid-December 2022, a 0.34% increase from November 2022 and a 3.88% increase from December 2021 employment levels, according to Surface Transportation Board data. Five of six employment categories registered increases between November and December 2022. Those categories were transportation (other than train and engine),…

(Source: Reuters, February 8, 2023) Top White House officials spoke to executives from the largest U.S. railroad operators in recent days, renewing pressure to reach an agreement to secure paid sick leave for workers after President Joe Biden signed legislation to block a national railroad strike in December. Biden’s top economic adviser, Brian Deese, and…

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 3 — This month marks the 30th anniversary of the enactment of The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1993. BLET has had a long history of fighting to protect members’ rights under FMLA. In marking the anniversary of FMLA, U.S. Senator Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY)…