On April 7, leaders of the Teamsters Rail Conference met in New York City with Wall Street analysts and investors who study the Class I railroad industry to discuss potential ramifications of the proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger and the Teamsters Rail Conference’s opposition to the merger.
National President Mark Wallace, First Vice President Gary Best, and National Division staff represented BLET, while President Tony Cardwell, Secretary-Treasurer Dale Bogart, and their leadership team represented BMWED. The unions met with more than three dozen investors throughout the day, including a morning session organized by UBS, a multinational investment bank and financial services company, as well as separate meetings with representatives from Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Susquehanna Research Group, and Goldman Sachs.
In a post-meeting report to clients, UBS noted that the two unions have outlined a clear set of concerns that Union Pacific must address in order to secure their support for the merger. The foremost priority is the preservation of positions, not individuals, as they existed on the date the merger was announced, ensuring that the total number of jobs cannot be reduced over time through attrition or restructuring.
UBS observed: “We note protecting positions is a stronger ask relative to the SMART (conductors) agreement with UNP, which provides job protection to employees working at the railroad at the time of the merger and allows positions to be reduced through attrition.”
Notably, that agreement is limited to protection from involuntary furloughs, a reactive standard that allows carriers to reduce the number of positions over time through attrition, operational changes, or divestitures, so long as remaining employees are not immediately furloughed. By contrast, the Rail Conference’s position seeks structural protection of the jobs themselves, preventing the erosion of the workforce through indirect means. This approach is consistent with Union Pacific’s own characterization of the transaction as a growth-driven merger and reflects the reality that the railroad workforce is already at historically low levels following a decade of reductions under Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR). In that context, a growth-based transaction cannot reasonably be premised on further workforce contraction, whether direct or indirect.
One other key issue is the continuation of job protections in the event of leases or sales of yards and lines to Class II and Class III carriers. Railroads have a well-established history of divesting such operations to reduce costs, often resulting in the elimination or displacement of existing positions. Union Pacific’s current job protection agreement with other unions does not extend safeguards in these circumstances.
In December 2025, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters published a joint statement with BLET and BMWED announcing their strong opposition to the merger. Also, the Teamsters Rail Conference has archived materials on its website relating to the merger, including letters from members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate urging the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to reject the merger if it doesn’t enhance competition in the rail industry. Earlier this year, the STB rejected the railroads’ initial merger application as incomplete.