Rail & Labor News from RWU
| | Weekly Digest Number 14 - April 1st , 2025 | | Welcome to the RWU Rail & Labor News! This news bulletin is produced and emailed out each Tuesday morning. We hope you find each week's news and information useful. If so, please share with co-workers, friends, and colleagues. If you like, you can sign them up to get all the news from RWU HERE. Or forward them the link. Got a hot tip? Please forward the article and a link to raillabornews@gmail.com. Note: If you read over this news bulletin each week, you will be sure to never miss the important news of what is going on in the railroad world from a worker's perspective! | | THIS WEEK'S RAIL AND LABOR NEWS | | Editor's Note: CSX’s “zero-to-zero” automation scheme is a PSR-era fever dream—cutting out the locomotive engineer entirely in pursuit of Wall Street’s approval. BLET’s opposition highlights the core issue: this isn’t innovation, it’s elimination. Operating rule violations, unsafe weather conditions, and the deskilling of an entire craft are being brushed aside so a train can be run like a spreadsheet. The question isn’t whether the software can move a train—it’s whether it should. Safety isn’t a variable in a profit formula, and once you remove the human element, you’re not modernizing railroading—you’re gutting it. | |
BLET / March 24th
CSXT’s Product Safety Plan would allow software to completely operate and control the train’s movements — not a certified locomotive engineer.
If approved, zero-to-zero would almost completely automate the movement of a train from the beginning to the end of a run, moving at full speed and adjusting speed throughout the trip.
BLET’s reasons why CSXT’s request should be denied included violated operating rules while zero-to-zero has control of a train, the “deskilling” of locomotive engineers, and operation in adverse weather conditions
| | Editor's Note: The FRA’s decision to pull C3RS from the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee and deactivate its working group sends a clear message: when it comes to safety, lip service is easier than accountability. C3RS was one of the few programs that put workers’ voices at the center—voluntary, non-punitive, and rooted in reality. But in a PSR-driven industry where speed and savings outweigh safety, systems like C3RS are seen as inconvenient. Railroads may say safety is their top priority, but actions like this expose the truth: if it doesn’t serve the bottom line, it gets cut. | |
Brotherhood Of Railroad Signalmen / March 25th
The Federal Railroad Administration has decided to withdraw the Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3RS) from the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee.
In addition, the FRA is deactivating the C3RS Working Group, which had been tasked with exploring how to improve rail safety through a voluntary, non-punitive safety reporting system.
| | Editor's Note: An RWU member who worked as a Conductor for many years is advising ALL railroad workers to save any and all information regarding your work history, payments made into the railroad retirement system, and any other pertinent information just in case something were to happen to the Railroad Retirement Board website and your information was "lost" forever without a trace. Take action to protect yourself by logging into your RRB account on making copies of your information. | |
RWU Member / March 13th
Computer systems at the Social Security Administration and the IRS have been breached by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The Railroad Retirement Board computer system could be vulnerable next.
This is a suggestion that we prepare ourselves for the worst. All current, retired, and former railroad employees should seriously consider downloading their service and compensation history from the RRB.gov website
If you have not yet signed up for an account on the RRB.gov website, you should consider doing this now because it is a process that could take several weeks to complete.
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| Editor's Note: In Silicon Valley—the land of billion-dollar breakthroughs—transit workers are on strike over basic safety and fair wages. ATU Local 265’s standoff with the VTA is a reminder that even in the tech capital of the world, workers are still treated as disposable. Now the courts want the union to justify a strike rooted in survival. When the system ignores safety incidents and stagnates wages, withholding labor isn’t just a right—it’s the only thing left. | |
Progressive Railroading / March 26th
The California Santa Clara County Superior Court has ordered Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265 to appear on March 26th to defend its ongoing strike at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.
On March 10, about 1,500 VTA bus drivers, light-rail operators, and other frontline workers went on strike to protest wages and workplace safety incidents that the union says are not being addressed.
ATU Local 265 posted on Facebook on March 25th that ATU and VTA will meet with a state mediator before the hearing.
| | Editor's Note: CSX reached a tentative deal with the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, touting improved wages and benefits—but the devil’s always in the details. In a PSR world, contracts often promise more than they deliver. Let’s hope this one puts workers before shareholders for a change. | |
Reuters / March 25th
CSX said on Tuesday it had reached a five-year tentative agreement with the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen.
The tentative collective bargaining agreement is subject to ratification by the union's members. The agreement with BRS provides equivalent packages of improved wages, healthcare and paid time-off benefits.
| | Editor's Note: CSX struck a five-year tentative deal with the Boilermakers—a small group in numbers, but part of a much bigger fight. PSR hasn’t spared anyone, and every craft still standing deserves a fair shot. Let’s hope this agreement values more than just efficiency. | |
Trains Magazine / March 26th
On March 25, CSX announced it had reached a tentative five-year labor agreement with the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers. The union — formally the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Shipbuilders, Blacksmiths, Forgers & Helpers — represents 59 CSX employees.
| | Editor's Note: IBEW’s new five-year deal brings a wage boost and some added perks—but it’s still framed by a system where workers claw for scraps while carriers cash out. In the PSR era, even modest gains feel like victories. The real question is: what would a contract look like if labor had real leverage? | |
Trains Magazine / March 25th
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers has ratified a five-year agreement with the National Carriers Conference Committee. The contract includes an 18.77% compounded wage increase over five years.
Other features include enhanced vacation benefits and the ability to carry over up to 4 unused paid sick days, up to a maximum of 20 days, with a 100% cash-out option upon leaving service.
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Emma Hurt / March 28
JACKSON — Down an unmarked dirt road in this rural town between Atlanta and Macon, a massive metal shed quietly sits over part of a Norfolk Southern train track.
But each time a train whooshes through, that shed comes alive with stadium lights as dozens of cameras take a thousand pictures of it — to try to spot defects that could lead to catastrophe.
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In the wake of the departure of its CEO and discussions of the company’s potential privatization, Amtrak is considering cuts to management and other cost-cutting moves, the company has confirmed.
“Given the current environment, the Executive Leadership Team and the Board have determined that we must act now,” Amtrak said in a statement today (March 28, 2025). “We will do this by examining our costs, including the size of our management staff, in a proactive and controlled way. In addition, we will be more selective in starting new projects and will look harder for efficiencies and innovative ways to address the problems and opportunities we face.”
Amtrak President Roger Harris reportedly informed employees of possible staff reductions in an email earlier this week. Harris is the company’s top official since the resignation of CEO Stephen Gardner, reportedly at the request of the White House [see “Amtrak CEO Gardner resigns,” Trains News Wire, March 19, 2025].
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IAM / March 31
IAM District 19 has reached a tentative agreement covering approximately 4,900 freight rail members with the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC).
The NCCC tentative agreement covers IAM members at BNSF, Norfolk Southern, Canadian National, Belt Railway, Terminal Rail, Consolidated Rail, Indiana Harbor Belt, New Orleans Public Belt, and Palmetto Railways.
“Our membership asked us to stand strong for a contract that includes no takeaways and makes improvements to pay, vacation and healthcare – and that’s exactly what we’ve delivered,” said IAM District 19 President and Directing General Chair Reece Murtagh. “We strongly recommend acceptance of this agreement.”
| | NEWS FROM AROUND THE LABOR MOVEMENT | | Each week, RWU includes a few articles about advances and developments in the larger labor movement that are of interest to railroad workers. Got an artcile to submit for possible inclusion next week? Email it along to raillabornews@gmail.com. Thank you! | |
Hands Off
"Donald Trump and Elon Musk think this country belongs to them. We are fighting back!
They're taking everything they can get their hands on—our health care, our data, our jobs, our services—and daring the world to stop them. This is a crisis, and the time to act is now.
🚨 On Saturday, April 5th, we're taking to the streets to fight back with a clear message: Hands off! 🚨
This mass mobilization day is our message to the world that we do not consent to the destruction of our government and our economy for the benefit of Trump and his billionaire allies. Alongside Americans across the country, we are marching, rallying, and protesting to demand a stop the chaos and build an opposition movement against the looting of our country.
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Check out handsoff2025.com for more information."
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Action Network
"Our public services are under attack. Efforts to privatize Amtrak and the United States Postal Service (USPS) threaten to undermine essential transportation and mail delivery services that millions of Americans rely on—especially in rural and underserved communities. Tell your elected officials in Congress to protect Amtrak and the USPS.
Take Action: Email your Representative and Senators and tell them:
- Protect Amtrak and USPS from privatization.
- Invest in expanding and improving these vital public services.
- Ensure affordable, reliable, and accessible transportation and mail delivery for all Americans."
| | WEEKLY DERAILMENT DEPARTMENT | | Each Tuesday in this news bulletin, RWU does our best to present a picture of what has been happening over the course of the previous week in terms of derailments in North America, and investigation determinations of previous accidents. NOTE: This list is by no means comprehensive. Smaller and less consequential mishaps are generally not reported here. If the wreck results in injury or fatality, or is especially damaging/extreme, a full article will appear as a feature in the dozen or so rail articles above. Know of a train wreck? Please feel free to forward a link to raillabornews@gmail.com for possible inclusion next week. Thanks! |
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