BLET members have overwhelmingly ratified a new five-year agreement with the Illinois Railway (IR). Ballots were tabulated on August 14. There are no concessions in the new contract, which provides full retroactive pay from March of 2025, a $1,000 signing bonus, and compounded general wage increases of 24.6 percent over the life of the agreement (2025-2029). Also, the new agreement establishes a $250.00 per quarter attendance bonus and overtime pay over and above the guarantee for the extra board.
The negotiating team consisted of General Chairman Dan Wells, Vice Local Chairman Dustin Stadie, National Vice President Randy Fannon, and recently-retired National Vice President Pete Semenek. A subsidiary of OmniTRAX, the IR operates over 113 miles of track in north central Illinois and provides rail service to some of the largest sand mining operations in the United States.
Photo by Danny Higgins