Rejection of Rail Agreement Reignites Potential for Strike

Nearly a month after reaching a tentative labor agreement, the possibility of a rail strike is back on the table, as the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division (BMWED) of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union announced on Oct. 10 the rejection of its deal with the freight rail lines.

Union members voted in record numbers and have expressed feelings of being undervalued. “They resent the fact that management holds no regard for their quality of life, illustrated by their stubborn reluctance to provide a higher quantity of paid time off, especially for sickness. The result of this vote indicates that there is a lot of work to do to establish goodwill and improve the morale that has been broken by the railroads’ executives and Wall Street hedge fund managers,” said BMWED president Tony D. Cardwell.