INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has reached a tentative five-year agreement with freight railroads represented by the National Carriers’ Conference Committee, the union has announced.
The agreement will cover 11,000 BLET members at BNSF Railway, Norfolk Southern, Canadian National, and some smaller railroads. It follows the pattern agreed to by other uniions, including annual wages increase totaling 18.8%, compounded, a one-time payment of $500, and improvements in health-care benefits with no increase in out-of-pocket costs.
The union said it attempted to move beyond the pattern of other agreements but that the railroads were unwilling to do so without changes to work rules and other protections.
BLET National President Mark Wallace said in a press release that his goal since becoming president and lead negotiator “has been to bring greater transparency and accountability to the bargaining process. The BLET Wage Team worked diligently to find a path forward that our members could support. This tentative agreement delivers meaningful wage growth without any concessions to work rules. As a membership-driven organization, it is now up to our members to determine the path ahead.”
The NCCC said that ratification of the agreement would mean nearly 95% of union rail workers at railroads participating in the national negotiations will be covered by a contract following the industry-wide pattern.
“This tentative agreement is a resounding endorsement of the pattern agreement’s tremendous value for rail employees,” Jeff Rodgers, chairman of the National Railway Labor Conference and the NCCC, said in a press release. “With nearly all unions now aligned, it is clear that this bargaining round has been one of the most productive in modern freight rail history.”
Results of the BLET’s mail and electronic ratification ballot will be announced in December.
The BLET announcement follows negotiations that began in December 2024. It comes just five days after the other major operating union, SMART-TD, announced ratification of its own five-year agreement with the railroads represented by the NCCC [see “SMART-TD ratifies …,” Trains.com, Oct. 30, 2025].
