Rail & Labor News from RWU
| | Weekly Digest Number 7 - February 17, 2026 | | 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: More and more conservative politicians, businessmen, regulators and other officials are starting to sound the alarm about the poorly conceived UP-NS merger. RWU is proug=d to say that we have consistently and outspokenly opposed the merger proposal since two weeks after it was first announced. Our efforts to build a grand coalition of forces opposed to the merger are working. We can stop this thing! We call on ALL rail unions to jump into the fray and demand this merger be rejected! | |
Freight Waves / February 5th
Republican members of Congress today urged the Surface Transportation Board to conduct a thorough review of the proposed merger of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, to ensure that the historic deal creates substantial benefits for shippers.
Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, in a letter to STB Chairman Patrick Fuchs and members Michelle Schultz and Karen Hedlund, encouraged the regulator to “conduct a rigorous and comprehensive review of the proposed merger…to ensure it enhances competition and is clearly in the public interest.”
The letter, co-signed by 46 members of Congress, states, “We also want to underscore at the outset that the responsibility to demonstrate clear, measurable, and substantial benefits for domestic manufacturers, agricultural producers, the energy sector, and the American consumer – all of whom rely on an efficient, competitive, and cost-effective freight rail system – rests squarely with the applicant railroads.
| | Editor's Note: Industry does not regulate itself out of conscience. It does so when public harm becomes too visible to ignore and when working people refuse to carry the burden in silence. Every ton of freight moved for profit passes through communities, across landscapes, and through the hands of workers tasked with managing risks they did not create. When safeguards are imposed, they are not acts of generosity but acknowledgments of responsibility long deferred. The movement of commerce must answer to the well-being of the people and places it touches, or it forfeits any claim to progress. Safety, accountability, and stewardship are never gifts from power. They are the hard-won demands of an organized and watchful public. | |
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Trains Magazine / February 8th
Environmental group San Diego Coastkeeper has announced an agreement with BNSF Railway for development of rules for safe transportation of plastic pellets, also known as nurdles — the raw material for the production of almost all plastic products.
The agreement, announced Thursday, Feb. 5, also involves the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation and North County Transit District, operator of Coaster commuter trains and owner of the Surf Line route used by BNSF along the San Diego County coast.
The pellets are roughly the size of a lentil, and are difficult to clean up in the event of a release. BNSF’s new policies require customers to seal both loaded and unloaded cars that transport the pellets, and say the railroad will not handle non-compliant cars, with escalating fees for non-compliance. The railroad is working with the Association of American Railroads and pellet shippers and receivers to develop best practices for pellet transportation.
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| Editor's Note: When the power to move a nation’s goods is concentrated into fewer hands, the consequences reach far beyond corporate balance sheets. Farmers, workers, and entire regions become dependent on decisions made far from the fields, the yards, and the communities that sustain them. Consolidation promises efficiency, but too often delivers control.. control over rates, over service, and over the economic survival of those with no alternative path to market. The question is not whether mergers create larger systems, but whether they serve the public that depends upon them. Transportation exists to carry the lifeblood of society, not to restrict its flow. When competition diminishes, accountability must rise, or the burdens of consolidation will fall, as they always have, on those with the least power to resist it. | |
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Progressive Railroading / February 9th
A bipartisan group of 10 state agriculture agency secretaries, directors and commissioners are asking the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to consider the impact the proposed Union Pacific Railroad and Norfolk Southern Railway merger would have on economic competition in the agricultural industry.
In a letter to board members, the 10 leaders asked the board to take a broader focus on consolidation and competition throughout the agriculture industry as it evaluates the proposed railroad merger.
“We strongly encourage the STB to ensure that any merger approval clearly demonstrates tangible, enforceable benefits to competition and service for agriculture shippers and to support a competitive rail network that serves our industry well now and into the future," the letter states.
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| Editor's Note: This commonsense ideato modernize the U.S electrical grid, reduce energy costs, provide a cleaner environment, and facilitate a national rail revival has been advocated for years by our friends at Solutionary Rail. After more than a decade of hard work, a bill has been introduced into Congress. All railroad workers and our unions should familiarize themselves with the basic idea and lend our support to the effort. | |
Congressman Kevin Mullin / February 5th
As energy costs increase across the nation, Congressman Kevin Mullin (CA-15) introduced the Rail and Highway Transmission Planning Act to accelerate the development of electric grid infrastructure.
Complex permitting processes, cross-state siting challenges, and constrained rights of way often make expanding the electric grid challenging and expensive. One solution is to make better use of existing infrastructure like highways and railways, which could serve as corridors for new high-voltage transmission lines. Making use of these existing public rights of way could save resources and time, and ultimately improve the reliability and resilience of the grid. As energy demands continue to rise, modernizing the electrical grid is crucial to increase supply, reduce costs, and transition to cleaner and more dependable sources.
“Consumers across America are seeing their utility bills skyrocket and we need to make it easier to expand the grid so electricity can be delivered in an efficient and more sustainable way,” Mullin said.
| | Editor's Note: After a pair of fatal train wrecks in Spain last month less than a week apart, the rail unions collectively decided to strike. After just one day on strike, many of the unions were satisfied that an agreement to properly staff and maintain the rail system had been secured. One can only imagine the power that North American rail workers could have if we were to have gone on strike after, say the East Palestine wreck three years ago.... | |
Reuters / February 9th
Spain's main unions for rail workers called off a three-day nationwide strike, which had started earlier on Monday, after authorities agreed to boost investments and reinforce staffing following a string of high-profile train accidents.
Last month, several consecutive derailments and crashes left dozens dead, sparking public scrutiny of the state of Spain's rail infrastructure. A January 18 high-speed rail crash in southern Andalusia killed 46 people while a derailment two days later in northeastern Catalonia killed a train driver.
The Spanish government will invest 1.8 billion euros ($2.15 billion) in railroad maintenance until 2030 and will hire 3,650 additional workers for the public-funded rail administrator and operator, Spain's Transport Ministry said in a statement.
| | Editor's Note: When political power aligns with management against the workers who operate the system, the consequences are immediate and real. Rail and transit workers do not ask for privilege; they demand the conditions necessary to perform dangerous, essential work with dignity, security, and protection for themselves and the public they serve. When safety standards are weakened or livelihoods made contingent on political convenience, it is not governance in the public interest but authority exercised at labor’s expense. A transportation system cannot endure while undermining those who run it. The system moves because they do, and when their voices are ignored, the public they serve bears the risk alongside them. | |
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New York Post / February 10th
John Samuelsen, president of the International Transport Workers Union representing 60,000 subway, rail, bus and airline workers in New York, said Tuesday that his union will not back Gov. Kathy Hochul’s re-election bid amid disputes over labor issues.
“She is not a trade-union supporting Governor, she is the Bosses’ Governor,” Samuelsen said in a scathing “Dear brothers and sisters” letter sent to his New York members.
The union big complained that Hochul vetoed legislation requiring two-person crews on trains and bills boosting worker pensions, while supporting the MTA requiring workers to pay more for their health care.
Samuelsen also said Hochul ordered the state Department of Motor Vehicles not to renew the Commercial Drivers’ Licenses of immigrant transport workers with active visas.
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ABC7 Chicago / February 11th
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The Lever / February 12th
In February 2023, a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, setting off a chemical disaster. Politicians and lawyers promised justice, and the railroad company swiftly settled for a historic $600 million.
Three years later, many victims haven’t seen a dime. Where did all that money go?
Today on Lever Time, producer Natalie Bettendorf is joined by Lever reporter Katya Schwenk, who scoured court documents and traveled to East Palestine to uncover the toxic secrets behind one of the largest disaster settlements in history.
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Editor's Note: Merger promises are proclaimed in the language of growth and unity, but their truth is measured in the daily conditions of the workers expected to make them real. When consolidation produces unequal pay, unequal benefits, and unequal standing for those performing the same work, the burden of expansion falls where it always has... on labor.
Railroad workers do not seek mediation lightly. When they are forced to invoke the law simply to secure parity and honor commitments made in the name of integration, it is not unrest but accountability asserting itself. A railroad may be joined on paper, but it is not truly one system until the people who build, maintain, and operate it are treated as equals. No network can claim strength while dividing the workers who sustain it.
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IAM Rail Division
Three rail labor unions have invoked federal mediation after more than a year of stalled contract talks with Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), citing particularly, the railroad’s mistreatment of employees on its former Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern (DM&E) lines.
IAM Union (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers) District 19, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division (BMWED), and the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS) have been bargaining as a coalition with CPKC since February 2025 under 19 collective bargaining agreements. While the parties are in accord on wage increases consistent with agreements with the other Class I railroads and have agreed to nationally negotiated health care changes, significant issues remain unresolved.
“CPKC leadership has publicly warned others to be skeptical of merger promises, yet they are breaking their own,” said IAM District 19 President & Directing General Chair Reece Murtagh. “Our members are still waiting for the wage parity and benefits they were told would come with this merger."
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| Editor's Note: Despite freight train delays, often unreliable and antiquated equipment, lack of convenient and regular frequencies, and more, Amtrak succeeds in spite of these disabilities. Imagine what the nation's passenger rail system could achieve once free of these impediments. What is happening in the Pacific Northwest offers a glimpse of what is possible. | |
KATU 2 ABC News / February 12th
| | Editor's Note: Safety is not a slogan or a program.. it is the first obligation of any system that carries human life, and everything placed above it is a decision about whose lives are expendable. When profit outranks protection, risk is not reduced; it is pushed downward onto the workers who operate the system and the communities forced to live with its consequences. Rail labor has long known that safety does not erode by accident, but by deliberate choices made in the name of efficiency and return. A transportation system that treats safety as negotiable is not advanced or responsible.. it is simply willing to gamble with other people’s lives. No industry built on that bargain can claim legitimacy, and no public should be asked to accept it. | |
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Trains Magazine / February 12th
If there is a foundational principle that defines the only meaningful factor in transportation, it can be asked in this one simple question: Is it safe?
Whether referencing our country’s first significant mode of transportation — railroads — or the complexities of our modern-day air systems, the priority should always be safety.
Unfortunately, profit margins, dividends, operating ratios, or whatever popular finance-related buzzword corporate America has created continues to seep in like a river of poison, tainting the well of common sense and decency by blinding those seeking to make money and allowing greed, rather than safety, to become their guiding light.
The irony is stark when it comes to how the agencies responsible for regulating air and rail transportation prioritize their approach to safety, or, more specifically, safety programs
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| Editor's Note: Amtrak has introduced a handful of new services across the US in recent years including Washington DC to Roanoke, VA, Chicago to the Twin Cities; and New Orkleans to Mobile, AL. They have all exceeded expectations in terms of ridership and public support. It is time for a mass rollout of new passenger service routes and frequencies between city pairs across the country. Build it and they will come! | |
High Speed Rail Alliance / Event on March 27th
Trains are making a comeback in the Deep South.
In August 2025, the Mardi Gras Service brought back Amtrak between Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans after a 20-year absence incited by Hurricane Katrina.
This project was spearheaded by the Southern Rail Commission, a federally-recognized compact between Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, which has promoted passenger rail expansion throughout the region since 1982.
We invite you to join us and Chairman Knox Ross to learn more about this unique organization, how the Mardi Gras Service came to be, and what lies ahead for great trains along the Gulf Coast.
| | 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! | |
Confined Space / February 11th
The Department of Labor’s Office of the Inspector General (I.G.) issued a report late last month summarizing the “challenges facing the Department, significant progress to date, and what remains to be done.”
And there is a lot remaining to be done over at OSHA and MSHA.
The IG correctly reminds Department leadership that they play “a vital role in the nation’s economy and in the lives of workers and retirees and, therefore, must remain vigilant in its important stewardship of taxpayer funds, particularly in the era of shrinking resources.”
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Labor Notes / Event on February 18th
This workshop is intended for stewards and elected officers who work closely with stewards. Please register only if this applies to you.
Shop stewards are the face of the union for most members—the people members see day to day, and rely on for everything from basic questions about the job to handling complicated grievances.
But stewards are also in a great position to strengthen the union by getting more people involved: by thinking like an organizer.
Meet with activists from different unions across the country to learn about how to be more effective stewards by organizing.
When: Wednesday, February 18
Time: 8 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. Eastern (5 p.m. to 6.30p.m. Pacific).
Where: This is an online workshop and will be held via Zoom.
$10 - Regular registration
| | Editor's Note: These workshops sponsored by Labor Notes can be very enlightening. Any and all rail workers who have ever considered running for local union office can benefit greatly from them. It takes a lot of gumption and confidence to run against incumbents. Learn how to do it here! | | |
Labor Notes / Event on February 23rd
One of the most important tools in the rank-and-file toolbox for transforming the labor movement is running for local union office. Internal elections are one of the ways that members can present a new way forward for the union, by putting the direction of the union in the hands of the membership—even if it means challenging existing leaders to do so.
But running for union office—and winning, or losing and still building lasting networks in our locals—is not just about getting your name on a ballot. It takes mapping out your local, building support across worksites, listening to members’ issues, and building a team that can successfully lead the union.
When: Monday, February 23
Time: 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Eastern (5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Pacific).
Where: This is an online workshop and will be held via Zoom.
Registration fee: $10 - Regular registration - no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Reach out if you need the registration fee waived.
| | 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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