INPEDENDENCE, Ohio, March 20 — Three BLET General Committees of Adjustment (GCAs) on BNSF Railway filed suit yesterday in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado to stop BNSF’s unilateral consolidation of road freight service between Denver and Cheyenne, La Junta, Pueblo, Sterling, and Trinidad; and between Trinidad and Denver/Texline.

As part of this consolidation, BNSF has placed all locomotive engineers under a single collective bargaining agreement of the railroad’s choosing, which it had no legal or contractual authority to do. This has resulted in significant changes to wages and working conditions for many of the engineers working in the territory.  The GCAs’ lawsuit seeks restoration of the status quo until statutorily-mandated bargaining is completed.

The legal action comes as serious safety concerns have arisen regarding BNSF’s actions. The railroad’s local managers are harassing and intimidating locomotive engineers to force them into making runs over territories they are not familiar with, a dangerous practice that puts lives at risk.
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