In his most recent annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, Warren Buffett called BNSF Railway one of the conglomerate’s “Four Giants.â€
With a record $6 billion in earnings and BNSF’s mileage and cargo hauls topping the American railroad industry, Buffett wrote that Berkshire shareholders “can be proud of your railroad.â€
One group that’s not proud of how BNSF Railway is operating: The union representing BNSF railroad workers.
Dennis Pierce, president of the 33,000-member Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said Friday at a press conference in Omaha that BNSF as well as Omaha-based Union Pacific railroad are both “off the rails.â€
Pierce said employees have worked long hours the last three years during the COVID-19 pandemic without raises. Pierce said that negotiations on a new labor contract have been going on since January 2020.
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“There’s nothing that these union-represented employees at these railroads have asked for that these railroads cannot afford to provide,†he said.
In separate emails, spokespeople for BNSF and Union Pacific said collective bargaining negotiations are ongoing.
BNSF spokesman Ben Wilemon the railroad has set aside money for pay raises in anticipation of an agreement.
“The sooner an agreement is reached, the sooner our union-represented employees get pay increases and we can all focus on what we do best — running one of the largest freight rail networks in the world,†he said.
Union Pacific spokeswoman Robynn Tysver said, “Union Pacific believes our hard-working workforce deserve compensation that will keep them among the best paid in the nation. We need national agreements that provide raises, but the bargaining issues are complex and need more work before an agreement is reached.â€
The union also takes issue with BNSF’s new “HiViz†attendance policy. Pierce called that as well as UP’s attendance policy “draconian.â€
“The attempt is to keep people from taking a day off, and it’s working,†Pierce said. “It’s also driving people out of the industry.â€
Wilemon characterized BNSF’s policy differently. He said the attendance policy, which has been in effect since February, was implemented to improve the consistency of crew availability with the goal of also improving schedule predictability.
“We understand that change is hard but, as with every other railroad and service business, delivering for our customers requires employees to be available to work their assigned shifts,†he said.
Wilemon added there has been no change in how much time off an employee receives, and said the time off between each shift averages 24 hours. He also said that BNSF has more train crew employees now compared to a year ago and that 300 new employees are currently being trained.
Pierce said union employees ultimately could strike if they feel conditions don’t improve and a contact they deem fair can’t be reached. Striking, he said, would be a last resort.
“I got to be crystal clear: We’re not here to hurt the supply chain,†he said. “There are ways to resolve this without impact to the supply chain. The first one is a fair contract offer.â€