September 8, 2026 | News, NS, Top News, UP, UP-NS Merger
More opposition to the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger emerged recently, with additional rail unions joining the Stop the Rail Merger Coalition. The Transportation Communications Union (TCU/IAM) and IAM District 19, both part of the IAM Rail Division, announced...
September 4, 2026 | News, NS, STB, Top News, UP, UP-NS Merger
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are circulating a signed letter urging the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB) to consider the consequences of the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern Rail merger for workers. Representative Val Hoyle (D-OR) led the...
August 29, 2026 | News, NS, UP, UP-NS Merger
On August 24, the Stop the Rail Merger Coalition wrote a letter to President Trump outlining why it opposes the proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger. The letter warns that the merger would reduce railroad competition, raise costs for American farmers,...
August 26, 2026 | News, NS, STB, Top News, UP, UP-NS Merger
The railroad industry, including rail labor, likes to throw around a lot of letters. There’s an “alphabet soup” of acronyms that frequently appear in industry and union news sites and publications, including this one — for example, AAR, ARU, BLET, CSXT, DOT, FRA, and...
August 25, 2026 | News, NS, STB, Top News, UP, UP-NS Merger
Last week, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) adopted a procedural schedule and timeline for consideration of the UP-NS merger application, but ordered the railroads to turn over “substantial” additional data by August 28. Importantly, STB said that release of the...
August 24, 2026 | News, NS, STB, Top News, UP, UP-NS Merger
The BLET last week led a coalition of rail labor unions in urging the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to immediately terminate the proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger application before a full review can begin. In an August 19 joint filing, BLET and the...
August 4, 2026 | News, Top News, UP-NS Merger
BLET National President Mark Wallace and First Vice President Gary Best met with Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) as part of their series of high-level meetings on Capitol Hill. Wallace and Best went to Capitol Hill in late July to advocate on behalf of BLET members and...
August 3, 2026 | News, NS, Top News, UP, UP-NS Merger
Here we go — again. This week, Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern filed a third round of merger application materials with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) in their attempt to merge the two Class I railroads. Back in May, the two railroads were ordered by STB to...
July 28, 2026 | News, NS, Top News, UP, UP-NS Merger
More Paperwork Cannot Fix a Merger That Would Raise Costs, Cut Competition and Put America’s Supply Chain at Risk WASHINGTON, D.C. — Stop the Rail Merger Coalition responded to Union Pacific (UP) and Norfolk Southern’s (NS) submission of supplemental information filed...
July 25, 2026 | News, NS, STB, Top News, UP, UP-NS Merger
In a victory for the BLET and other rail labor unions, the Surface Transportation Board this week ordered Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern to make public the merger-related job impact data that the railroads had inexplicably labeled as “highly confidential” in their...
