Burlington Northern Santa Fe General Committee

The BNSF signal department is still having difficulty recruiting new employees and further difficulty retaining them once they are hired. As reported in our last newsletter, we concluded 2022 with 71 resignations on BNSF against a total new hire number of around 130, 9 of whom subsequently resigned or had their application disapproved.

At our fourth quarter SAC meeting with BNSF, we were made aware of the Carrier’s plans to mandate a half-day broken rail training program as a pre-requisite for bidding maintainer positions. The Committee took considerable issue with this unilateral attempt to change the requirements to secure maintainer positions.

BNSF Biometric Data Harvesting

The committee has previously notified you about BNSF's attempts to gain access to your biometric data. We were informed that some of you may have granted them permission to do this without realizing it and followed up with a second email to remind members how they could rescind consent which was given accidentally.

In September 2016, this committee entered into an Agreement with BNSF to perform the maintenance and inspection on numerous types of Mechanical Department detectors. In total, the Agreement included approximately 20 types of detector systems. We did the work on all the listed detector types for no additional compensation.

We Rely on You For Intel

Most class I railroads have been convicted of felonies. They relentlessly break the law and hurt people, including their own employees, but that does not mean we should be their partners in crime. This Committee greatly appreciates those members who take the time to send us intelligence from the field concerning questionable railroad operations.

2023 IRS Mileage Rate

In early January, the 2023 mileage rate was set by the Internal Revenue Service. This rate was set at 65.5 cents per mile, effective January 1, 2023. Please use this rate when calculating mileage reimbursement on expense reports for 2023.

2023 RR Retirement Tax Rates

Effective January 1, 2023, the maximum amounts of compensation subject to Railroad Retirement Tier I and Tier II taxes will increase to the following: Tier I maximum will increase to $162,200 from $147,000 and Tier II maximum will increase to $118,800 from $109,200. The Tier I tax consists of two components, a Social Security equivalent (Tier I [SS] 6.

KCS Request For Contractors

On or around the end of February, KCS senior management and Labor Relations approached the Committee to inquire about the possibility of reaching an agreement for the limited use of contractors to perform certain crossing installations on its system. The committee reached out to local officers to discuss this possibility and to prepare to enter negotiations with the KCS on that topic.

STB Approves CP/KCS Merger

Canadian Pacific Railway was granted final approval for its $31 billion acquisition of Kansas City Southern (KCS) by the Surface Transportation Board (STB) on March 15. The approval was granted despite concerns from grain industry associations that the merger could lead to less competition and higher prices.

MRL Lease Termination Finalized

On March 8, 2023, the Surface Transportation Board approved the lease termination between MRL and BNSF, which paves the way for BNSF to regain control over the main line from Huntley, MT to Sandpoint, ID. Although the STB’s decision is effective on April 7, the date for BNSF to take over operations of the MRL remains uncertain.

2023-2025 DTO Agreement Ratified

The DTO Agreement was approved with a clear majority voting in support of ratification. The votes were tallied, and the Agreement was implemented at the end of January 2023. There was a phenomenal participation rate in the voting process with around 95% of the members returning ballots. It was great to see such a high participation rate in this ratification process.

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BRS Efforts to Obtain Emergency Sick Leave

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the lack of sick leave afforded our members, the Organization attempted to get out in front of the impending certainty coming our way – infections and/or exposure quarantines of our members.

Download:

GCA Letter to Carl Ice Re COVID-19 (3-16-2020) (1).pdf

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CLICK THE APPROPRIATE ICON BELOW FROM YOUR APPLE OR ANDROID MOBILE DEVICE.

BRS Efforts to Obtain Emergency Sick Leave

GCA Letter to Carl Ice Re COVID-19 (3-16-2020) (1).pdf

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