Tentative deal reached in railroad dispute

Fort Worth-based rail freight carrier BNSF said Thursday that avoiding a national strike of railroad workers spared the region from significant supply chain disruptions.

The company’s Alliance facility is critical to the regional and national supply chain.

In the wee hours of Thursday morning, President Joe Biden announced a tentative deal had been reached that could end the protracted labor dispute between railroad carriers and 12 unions that represent the nation’s 115,000 unionized rail workers.

In anticipation of a strike — and to pressure unions to come to an agreement, some claim — carriers had already started an embargo on transporting hazardous materials ahead of a Friday morning deadline. Amtrak had announced it was canceling long-distance trains starting Thursday.

Union members still have to vote to approve the agreement.

“We’re just happy that we were able to come to an agreement with our employees and get back to what we do best,” said Zak Andersen, vice president of corporate relations for BNSF.

Friday at 12:01 a.m. Eastern marked the end of a cooling-off period during which unions were not allowed to strike, and operators were not allowed to lock out workers.

The period between the establishment of a deal and unions’ votes has similar conditions preventing strikes and lockouts.

Presidents of the SMART Transportation Division and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen issued a joint statement Thursday morning about the contents of the deal.

The agreement calls a cumulative wage increase of 24% over five years, including an immediate 14% raise. It also freezes members’ monthly health care contributions.

In response to workers’ concerns about working conditions, the agreement creates voluntary assigned days off and one additional paid day off.

Biden hailed the agreement as “a victory for railway companies who will be able to retain and recruit more workers for an industry that will continue to be part of the backbone of the American economy for decades to come.”

The White House had put pressure on both sides to resolve the conflict to avoid an economically disastrous strike, while urgently cobbling together contingency plans.