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 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 7, 2026 | News, STB, Top News
BLET National President Mark Wallace and First Vice President Gary Best met with Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ) as part of their series of high-level meetings on Capitol Hill. Wallace and Best went to Capitol Hill late last month to advocate on behalf of BLET members and the...
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...
July 11, 2026 | News, NS, STB, Top News, UP, UP-NS Merger
Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific appear to have purposefully left out critical information on the affect that the proposed merger would have on workers – if approved. Instead of listing the information publicly as they did in their past two applications, they...
June 30, 2026 | News, NS, STB, Top News, UP, UP-NS Merger
The BLET continues to keep a close eye on the proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger, and whenever necessary, shine a public spotlight on risks associated with the merger. BLET has staunchly opposed the merger as it could harm workers, shippers, and the...
June 18, 2026 | News, NS, STB, Top News, UP, UP-NS Merger
The BLET and Teamsters Rail Conference applauded the recent action by the House Appropriations Committee to urge the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to conduct a rigorous review of the proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern (UP-NS) merger. BLET and the Rail...
June 17, 2026 | News, NS, STB, Top News, UP, UP-NS Merger
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Stop the Rail Merger Coalition today responded to alarming comments made by Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena at an investor conference in which he suggested that the Surface Transportation Board (STB) should rush its review of the proposed UP/NS merger,...
