OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific has reached an agreement with General Committee 953 of the SMART-TD union to maintain two-person crews, the railroad announced, confirming an earlier report by the North Platte Telegraph.
General Committee 953 covers workers in a 13-state area on the Union Pacific and four short lines, and in its current form includes UP’s Eastern Division and Pacific Northwest territories, plus former Chicago & North Western lines.
In a March 25 press release, the railroad writes that the agreement “makes no changes to the current conductor position staffing each train as part of a two-person crew, provides long-term job protection to current employees, and gives the railroad greater flexibility to deploy brake or switch persons to work either in or outside the yard.” If ratified, the agreement ends UP’s intent to redeploy conductors to ground-based positions in the region.
Luke Edington, national general chairman of SMART-TD (the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division) informed members of the agreement on Friday in a letter shared with the North Platte Telegraph by a local union official. He said in the letter that the deal “preserves the conductor craft.”
Union Pacific had sought to test the use of ground-based conductors, which it called “expediters,” in a four-phase testing program in the region. It would have begun in Nebraska, with subsequent phases in Colorado, the Pacific Northwest, and Kansas [see “Union Pacific details plans to test feasibility …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 14, 2022]. The program had been on hold while the railroad and SMART-TD continued negotiations and mediation [see “Union Pacific, rail labor remain in mediation …,” News Wire, Jan. 20, 2023].
Other aspects of the agreement include elimination of a requirement for brakemen or switchmen aboard local “through freight” trains if more than three switching events are needed on a run, and a signing bonus Edington called “greater than any received in past crew consist agreements.”
The railroad and union both said the new crew consist agreement would address “quality of life” issues for conductors through more predictable work schedules.
Beth Whited, UP executive vice president-sustainabililty and strategy, and chief human resources officer, said the agreement would allow for “predictable, scheduled shift work while giving us greater scheduling flexibility that will also improve customer service. We are working to finalize the contract details as quickly as possible.”
SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson said in the UP release, “Along with the scheduling enhancements, which were part of last year’s national agreements, we have an opportunity to positively impact our conductors by giving them fixed days off and greater certainty about their weekly assignments.”
The deal came just a day after Norfolk Southern and SMART-TD announced they had halted negotiations over a similar proposal for ground-based conductors [see “Norfolk Southern and union end talks …,” News Wire, March 23, 2023] and also intended to focus on quality-of-life improvements such as more predictable scheduling.
— Revised March 25 at 6:40 p.m. with information from Union Pacific press release.
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