ENGINEERS PEEVED WITH RAILS OVER SICK TIME

Tens of thousands of engineers remain frustrated with the lack of paid sick time and the demands railroads like BNSF are making in negotiations despite the deals that have been made this year for most of the other rail unions.

The lack of sick time and other quality-of-life concerns took center stage in the negotiations last fall that reached the brink of a strike before Congress intervened and blocked a walkout.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union says the railroads are still asking for too much in return for sick time instead of just providing the basic benefit it believes workers are entitled to.

“They want to talk the money out of our pocket somewhere else and give it back to us in the form of sick time,” said Rob Cunningham, one of the BLET's general chairmen who is leading the negotiations with BNSF. The union's frustrations generally extend to all the major freight railroads, but Cunningham said BNSF seemed to be acting especially “hardheaded” in talks last week.

BNSF spokesperson Lena Kent said the railroad has already reached deals to provide sick leave to more than 6,000 of its employees at eight of its unions, and “it is our intention to ultimately have agreements in place covering our entire scheduled workforce.”

The engineers' union has yet to reach a single sick time agreement at any of the railroads. One of the key remaining concerns for the BLET is that even where the railroads seem willing to give engineers sick time, the railroads generally still want to hold workers accountable for missing work under their strict attendance policies.