BLET National President Mark Wallace (right) and First Vice President Gary Best (left) met with Senator Roger Marshall (center) in August to advocate on behalf of BLET members
Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) is continuing his fight against the proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger. In a new op-ed published on October 30th in the High Plains Journal entitled “Kansas farmers need a fighter. I’m not backing down on this rail merger,” Senator Marshall makes the case that the $85 billion merger would hurt Kansas farmers, railroad workers, and the rural communities that depend on a competitive rail network.
Senator Marshall warns that the merger would leave roughly 240 rail-served facilities in Kansas captive to a single consolidated railroad and would put good-paying railroad jobs at risk. He points out that Union Pacific employs more than 1,000 railroad workers in Kansas and that more than 70 percent of union-represented workers on the UP and NS oppose the merger. BLET and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED) are among the unions opposing it. Senator Marshall also calls on the Trump administration to oppose the merger, writing, “I oppose this merger, and I will keep fighting it.”
“Senator Marshall has been in this fight from day one, and his op-ed makes clear he is not backing down,” said BLET National President Mark Wallace. “BLET will always support Members of Congress who support our members and our priorities, whether they are a Republican, a Democrat, or an Independent. Senator Marshall has stood with BLET members on the UP-NS merger, on the Railway Safety Act, and on the issues that matter most to rail workers in Kansas. BLET is proud to reaffirm our endorsement of Senator Marshall for re-election in November.”
BLET first announced its endorsement of Senator Marshall in August, after President Wallace and First Vice President Gary Best met with Senator Marshall on Capitol Hill to discuss the top legislative priorities of the BLET and Teamsters Rail Conference. “Senator Marshall’s leadership on the UP-NS merger is a prime example of how BLET’s direct outreach to Members of Congress is paying off,” said President Wallace. “Every meeting we hold with elected officials and key decision makers is an opportunity to advance BLET’s priorities, and we are seeing the results. I will keep investing that time on behalf of our members.”
The op-ed is the latest example of Senator Marshall standing with Teamsters members. On October 21, Senator Marshall joined Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien in Topeka, Kansas, where they walked the belts and spoke with hundreds of UPS Teamsters alongside Teamsters Central Region International Vice President Danny Avelyn and Local 696 President Michael Scribner. The Teamsters and Local 696 endorsed Senator Marshall for re-election in September, and he is an original cosponsor of the Railway Safety Act and a cosponsor of the Faster Labor Contracts Act and the Warehouse Worker Protection Act.