\n<\/p>\n
A proposed mega-merger of two of the largest railroad companies in the US will hurt jobs, raise costs for consumers and increase the risk of more catastrophic train crashes, according to workers and unions.<\/p>\n
Union Pacific proposed a $85bn deal to buy Norfolk Southern last month, which would create the first transcontinental railroad network in the US.<\/p>\n
As executives at Union Pacific seek approval from federal regulators the Surface Transportation Board, union leaders warn the deal heightens fears around safety \u2013 two years after the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine, Ohio, resulted in the release of plumes of toxic chemicals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe entirety of the workers\u201d is against the merger, claimed John Samuelsen, the president of the Transport Workers Union. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping that the stakeholders in DC that are making determinations are going to listen and understand that when something like East Palestine happens, the chances of that happening under a mammothly merged new entity become greater and greater,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything that empowers the freight rail carriers makes them more profitable and just increases the levels of power that they can press is dangerous for workers, and actually dangerous for everybody,\u201d Samuelsen added. \u201cThey\u2019re already an incredibly difficult employer to deal with. And if they\u2019re twice as big, they\u2019ll be twice as difficult to deal with, and they\u2019re going to move to reduce headcount.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two firms expect their merger to create an \u201cannualized synergy opportunity\u201d worth $2.75bn. Samuelsen cited such savings cannot be achieved without reducing the workforce, a longstanding issue in the railroad industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have had nothing but bad experiences running the TWU in dealing with freight rail. They appear to be unchanged from the infamous rail bosses of the 1880s,\u201d he said, when railroad tycoons, dubbed robber barons during the Gilded Age due to their business practices, amassed immense wealth and power through control of the railroad industry. \u201cThey\u2019re extremely powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Smart Transportation Division, the largest rail labor organization in the US, has also opposed the merger over Union Pacific\u2019s safety record and labor practices.<\/p>\n
Since the East Palestine derailment, a railroad safety bill has stalled in Congress, despite JD Vance supporting it as a US senator, and the Trump administration has already demonstrated a strikingly more lax approach toward approving corporate mergers compared to the Biden administration.<\/p>\n
If they\u2019re twice as big, they\u2019ll be twice as difficult to deal with, and they\u2019re going to move to reduce headcountJohn Samuelsen, Transport Workers Union president<\/p>\n
Six class I railroads currently control the majority of the rail network in the US: BNSF Railway, Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, CSX, Canadian National Railway and CPKC, which merged from two separate railroad companies in 2023. The number of class I railroads in the US has dwindled from 39 in 1980.<\/p>\n
Nick Wurst, the general secretary of Railroad Workers United and a railroad freight conductor in Massachusetts, expressed concern with the power a merger of two class I railroad firms would yield to an already powerful industry \u2013 and prompt executives to try and \u201ctrim the fat\u201d in their workforces.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to let them massively expand their negotiating power, not just with the shippers, with the customers, but also it\u2019s going to expand their power in terms of negotiations with workers, and lobbying in Washington,\u201d said Wurst. \u201cI think it\u2019s reasonable to anticipate that there\u2019s going to be sort \u2013 of a hunt for redundancies. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s just going to affect union employees; it\u2019s also going to affect management, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
The news of a proposed merger has also sparked concerns that other operators, such as BNSF and CSX, would move to merge in response.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I heard about this merger, I was horrified for the simple fact that everything that\u2019s happened in East Palestine points to the fact that these rail carriers have way too much power the way it is,\u201d said Jeff Kurtz, a retired railroad worker at BNSF who had served as the legislative and safety director at the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.<\/p>\n
The merger would make Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern \u201ca lot more powerful\u201d, he added, pointing to the 1996 merger between the Burlington Northern Railroad and the Santa Fe Railway, which formed BNSF. Benefits in existing union contracts were eliminated if they weren\u2019t included in both, Kurtz recalled, or the lesser benefit was adopted and applied to the merged workforce.<\/p>\n
Everything that\u2019s happened in East Palestine points to the fact that these rail carriers have way too much powerJeff Kurtz, retired BNSF railroad worker<\/p>\n
\u201cThings will get worse,\u201d he warned. \u201cRight now, you\u2019ve got these long trains, blocking crossings, cutting towns in half. Another thing that you might get with this merger is them moving terminals around, and moving people out of these small towns. There\u2019s not going to be a lot of recourse for towns to handle this stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Weaver, a railroad worker, expressed concern that the merger would force workers to travel even further away from home.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you raise a family on that? What\u2019s in the land of opportunity? It\u2019s about being a father, being a mother and being there to raise your kids,\u201d he said. \u201cHow can you do that when you\u2019re at this point, it could be 2,000 miles away from home? How are they going to do that? It wears you out to think of the stress on the employee when they expect the same amount of production and they\u2019ve cut since World War One, they\u2019ve cut 95% of rail labor.\u201d<\/p>\n
The class I railroad labor force has declined from more than 450,000 in 1980 to about 122,000 workers in 2024, he noted. \u201cNone of these mergers have ever been good for the workers,\u201d said Weaver. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t serve the people. It doesn\u2019t serve the shippers. It doesn\u2019t serve the consumer because it drives prices up. We\u2019re playing Monopoly here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seven industry groups representing shippers, including the National Industrial Transportation League, the American Chemistry Council, and the Freight Rail Customer Alliance have opposed any further railroad mergers, citing the companies already have too much market power.<\/p>\n
Norfolk Southern deferred comment to Union Pacific. A spokesperson for Union Pacific declined to comment but referred to claims on the company\u2019s website that the merger would be \u201ca win\u201d for the US economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a win for our customers; it\u2019s a win for the workforce and it\u2019s a win for shareholders,\u201d the firm has argued. \u201cThis combination will transform the U.S. supply chain, unleash the industrial strength of American manufacturing and create new sources of economic growth, safe, resilient communities and workforce opportunity that preserves union jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
They also noted that Transload Group, a rail transloading and logistic service provider that has previously partnered with Norfolk Southern, expressed support for the deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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