BNSF on Oct. 25 reported reaching a five-year tentative agreement with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and a ratified agreement with the National Conference of Firemen and Oilers (NCFO). It also reported key service metrics.
The IBEW agreement marks the ninth tentative agreement announced by BNSF in the past two months—ahead of the collective bargaining round—now covering more than 16,300 employees and 53% of the union workforce at BNSF, according to the Class I railroad.
The agreements, all subject to ratification, provide a 3.5% average wage increase per year over the next five years, BNSF reported. They also offer railroaders “more vacation earlier in their career and meaningful enhancements to an already robust suite of health care benefits,” it noted.
In recent weeks, BNSF has also reached ratified agreements with members of the International Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation (SMART) Railroad, Mechanical and Engineering Department (MD); American Trains Dispatchers Association (ATDA); Transportation and Communications Union (TCU), and Brotherhood Railway Carmen (BRC). The railroad has reached tentative agreements with the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers–Transportation Division (SMART-TD), the union’s Yardmasters (SMART-TD-YDM), and the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB).
IBEW International President Kenneth W. Cooper said in an Oct. 28 statement: “This new agreement reflects the IBEW’s commitment to ensuring that jobs in the freight rail industry are good jobs that provide economic security for our members and their families. Thanks to the hard work of railroad members, we are winning stronger contracts that recognize the value they bring to the nation.” IBEW represents approximately 1,200 BNSF workers.
CSX was the first Class I railroad to take its labor negotiations out of national handling; NS and BNSF followed.
The last bargaining rounds, in 2020, led to the formation of a Presidential Emergency Board in July 2022. Nearly five months later, President Joe Biden signed into law a congressional resolution (H.J. Res. 100) imposing on four holdout rail unions a collectively bargained Tentative Agreement ratified by eight others.
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Service Metrics
Also on Oct. 25, BNSF reported in an online customer notification that it continues to see “strong volumes” moving across its network, with weekly volumes near 200,000 units (see chart above). “Intermodal is especially strong, with year-to-date volumes 16% higher than last year,” the railroad said.
According to BNSF, car velocity has decreased from September, but remained “relatively steady with last week.” While terminal dwell was higher versus both the prior week and last month, the railroad reported, “it was still 6% lower than October 2023.” Additionally, local service compliance “has improved slightly from last week and month.”
BNSF engineering teams also recently completed a 12-mile segment of second main line track near Augusta, Kans., on the Emporia Subdivision, which runs from Kansas City to Wellington in Eastern Kansas, according to the railroad (see photograph, left). “This work is part of a multi-year project to add 50 miles of new double-track to our busy Southern Transcon route,” it said. “This leaves one final 3-mile segment, which will be completed before peak intermodal season, supporting greater fluidity, faster service and increased capacity for growth.”
