Quality of life concerns weigh heavily on rail contract vote

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The lack of some benefits most American workers can readily count on, like paid sick leave and regularly scheduled weekends, is driving some railroad workers to veto contracts that include hefty raises and $5,000 bonuses.

This week’s vote by the third-largest railroad union against their contract raised the possibility that a crippling nationwide strike could still happen even though the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division union pledged to negotiate more before considering walking off the job.

All 12 railroad unions must approve the contract to avoid a strike. Six smaller railroad unions have now approved their agreements with the major freight railroads after the National Conference of Firemen & Oilers ratified their deal Thursday.

But the workers with the most concerns about demanding schedules that have them on call 24-7 — engineers and conductors, nearly one-third of rail workers — won’t vote until next month.

Ultimately Congress may step in to block a strike and impose a contract if the two sides can’t reach agreements.

The five-year deals include 24% raises, which are the biggest in more than four decades, and closely follow the recommendations of a special board of arbitrators appointed by President Joe Biden this summer. However, those recommendations generally don’t resolve workers’ scheduling and workload concerns, especially as the major railroads have eliminated nearly one-third of their workers over the past six years. Railroads have been reluctant to offer much more than that board recommended, although they did agree to give engineers and conductors three unpaid days off a year to tend to medical appointments as long as they give 30 days notice.

Conductors and engineers clearly have the worst schedules that can lack weekends because railroads...