Agreements Etc...

With the recent hazardous events affecting our operations, now is the time for our union to advocate for the protections our members deserve. We remain committed to moving freight and protecting our jobs, but that commitment should never come at the expense of our health, safety, or financial security.

Today, railroaders are facing multiple workplace hazards at the same time:

• Canadian wildfire smoke has created hazardous air quality conditions across many regions, reducing visibility and exposing employees to harmful airborne particles while working outdoors.

• COVID-19 continues to circulate, creating additional health concerns for employees working in close quarters, transportation, lodging, and shared facilities.

• Whiteout snow conditions and winter storms can severely limit visibility, increase the risk of slips, falls, and vehicle accidents, and make emergency response efforts more difficult.

• Flooding rains and flash flood conditions threaten track infrastructure, create washout risks, obscure hazards, compromise road access, and place employees in dangerous…

Brothers and Sisters,

Union Pacific has taken a new position on the use of a single paid sick day. Under their new interpretation, an employee’s use of paid sick leave is in conjunction with other forms of leave if the employee observes a single paid sick day, marks up, and does not work before observing another form of paid leave. The time marked up between the paid sick day and the other form of leave does not matter, they still consider the two in conjunction.

This position is contrary to what was discussed and agreed upon at the bargaining table. We’ve been trying to resolve the issue but are now preparing to arbitrate the matter. If one of your members receives a message from UP requesting medical documentation for their use of a single paid sick day, make sure they respond to the message. If they do not,…

I now have 4 weeks of vacation, can I single all those weeks out or is there a limit to how many can be singled?

Also, if an employee singles out a week of vacation and uses them all does that week become available for another employee if the want to move their week?