SBA 1208 lawsuit update
On March 31st, attorneys representing SMART-TD and UP submitted a Rule 26(f) Report to the court. This is a joint report where the parties express their intent and expectations for the case progression. In summary:
- Both parties agree that discovery is not required. Instead, both parties will agree to a stipulated record of undisputed facts and documents by May 15th, 2026
- If the parties do not settle, the case will not go to trial, but will be resolved by summary judgment. Summary judgment is used to expedite cases where there are no real dispute of facts, but is just a matter of interpretation of the law.
- Each side must file their motion for summary judgment by July 14th, 2026. Each side has until August 28th, 2026 to file opposition briefs.
- The court has ordered a status conference for Sept 2nd, 2026. The purpose of this is for the parties to meet with the court to see if a settlement is likely and/or if mediation would be useful before the court decides on a date to issue a ruling.
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Carrier interpretation of when PS documentation is required
General Chairman Luke Edington sent the following message regarding the carrier’s interpretation of when documentation is required for PS usage.
…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, the Carrier will charge them with a violation of 1.13. Their response can be simple, but they must reply. I recommend the member discuss the message and their response with you or the office before submitting it. Additionally, please send all instances to the office so we can add it to the file. For your reference, the agreement language is below, and the entire agreement is attached.
Article III.
D. In certain cases where an employee uses consecutive days of paid sick leave or uses paid sick leave days in conjunction with other leave, the Carrier may require employees to provide medical documentation to support the use of paid sick leave. Nothing in this Agreement is intended to change the Carrier’s existing return to work or fitness for duty processes or practices.
Q8: May I take consecutive days of paid sick leave without medical documentation?
A8: It may be necessary to take consecutive paid leave days in cases of illness. However, you may be asked to provide medical documentation to support absences exceeding two or more consecutive paid leave days or cases where paid sick leave is used in conjunction with other leave. Employees should communicate with their local managers about the need for extended absences.
New Discipline terms of contract: Update your email
A new discipline agreement was incorporated in the 2025 National Agreement. All discipline related documents (Notice of Investigation, postponement, transcript, etc.) will be sent to the charged employee via E-mail starting on January 1, 2026. To ensure you receive these documents, if charged by the Carrier, please make sure you have a non-UP E-mail on file in your SAP Portal.
Follow the steps below, if you are unsure of how to update this information:
- Login to MyUP
- Open the menu on the lefthand side of the page
- Click on Employee
- Click My Information (Second bullet from top)
- Click ‘My Profile’
- On the new page that opens, in the right hand column next to email addresses, select “add” then “other E-mail”
- Enter email address and click “Save”
To update an old non-UP E-mail address that is still on file, click the pencil to the right of the E-mail address and update it to a current address.
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Organization files lawsuit seeking to set aside SBA 1208
On Dec 29th, SMART-TD International in concert with the 4 General Committees on UP property filed a complaint in the US District Court of Nebraska seeking to set aside the award issued by SBA 1208. Attached is the filing in its entirety.
In summation, the organization argues that the carrier and the neutral exceeded the authority of the board. They particularly take issue with the following:
- Disposing of existing agreements that provided for extra rest or “smart rest”
- Failing to provide extraboard employees with scheduled days off as provided by Article V of PEB 250
- The award provision that allow for “any qualified employee” to fill conductor vacancies having no basis within the PEB
General Chairman Edington writes:
…Brothers and Sister, I hope all of you are enjoying the holidays and time with family.
We filed in the District Court of Nebraska today to vacate SBA 1208 (Articles V-VII Arbitration Award). All the General Committees are listed as parties along with the International. We are pursuing three counts: the permission to use “any qualified employee”; the elimination of extra rest; and no scheduled rest for extra board employees. Our dissenting opinion is also included at the end of the attachment.
Under Section 9 of the RLA, the entire award would be vacated if the court ruled in our favor on just one of the counts. We haven’t gotten any timeline on the court proceedings from legal counsel yet. I’ll pass those along when they are received.
Negotiations over implementation of the Award are still scheduled for January 12-13. We have a duty under the RLA to bargain in good faith until the court makes a final ruling and will continue to do so.
We don’t anticipate anything being implemented on property until the lawsuit is resolved as a ruling by the courts could negate anything that is implemented.
Updates will be sent out as they are received and, as always, don’t hesitate to contact the office if you have any questions.
Fraternally, Luke Edington
General Chairperson
SMART TD GO-953
Tentative Agreement
A tentative agreement has been reached with the carrier. Take note that this is the 5 year contract negotiations and is separate from the ongoing negotiations regarding scheduled-off days, automatic bid scheduling and other issues addressed in the SBA 1208 award.
…Brothers and Sister,
We’ve reached a Tentative Agreement with Union Pacific that, if ratified, will end this round of Section 6 bargaining. I’ve attached a synopsis of the Tentative Agreement and the TA itself. Please update your contact information with the Local’s S&T immediately. Voting will be conducted electronically so it’s important that our members contact information is up to date in our system. If your information is incorrect, you will not receive a ballot.
Luke Edington
General Chairman
Article V-VII Arbitration
The following is from General Chairman Edington regarding the arbitration award for Articles V-VII of the PEB. The link to the award in its entirety follows.
…Brothers and Sisters,
Attached is the final award for the Article V-VII arbitration. There’s been a wave of misinformation circulating on social media about the work/rest award that will be imposed on SMART-TD. For starters, we do not agree with the neutrals award and have dissented.
In early February of 2024, when bargaining first began, Union Pacific proposed an 11/4 work/rest model that would’ve combined all classes of service, eliminated daily preference, penalty claim payments, and all work rules associated with yard/road demarcation.
Immediately after receiving this proposal, we polled the membership to ensure we were seeking the work/rest model they preferred.
The poll was sent to 5,348 members with an email address on file. Out of 1,129 respondents to the poll, the 6/3 work/rest model was the preferred model, along with the following:
- 70% said voluntary rest days would improve their quality of life—49% by a lot and 21% by a little.
- 48% said they preferred voluntary rest days – 23% preferred mandatory rest days and 18% preferred no change to the current system.
- 97% said maintaining current earning potential was a top priority.
- 83% said that the ability to plan reliable personal or family time was very important (65%) or important (18%).
- 69% said that scheduled rest days should be a high (43%) or somewhat (26%) bargaining priority.
- 64% said that scheduled rest would make them either certain to stay (29%), most likely to stay (15%), or that it was a good factor (20%) for retention.
After reviewing the polling data, we spent months in active negotiations on alternative work/rest schedules that would satisfy what the polling data reflected. The Carrier would not consider a 6/3 work/rest model and would only discuss a mandatory 4/1 or 5/1 on the pools, provided the pools protect irregular service. That left us with two options, accept an absolutely terrible agreement or follow the procedures outlined in Public Law 117-216, which requires binding arbitration.
The voluntary rest day model in the award does provide flexibility for members in pool freight they did not previously have. Coupled with the regulation factor, which keeps the home cycle time for pool employees very close to what they have today, our members in pool freight will also have 91 voluntary days off to use at their discretion. The trade turn option is another tool for our members in pool freight that will give them some additional control over when they will be called to work. All of which are not subject to any discipline under Carrier’s attendance policy.
In addition to these provisions, the award provides the following:
- Preservation of current forfeiture rules on guaranteed boards.
- Furlough Pay Protection: If an employee is furloughed for fewer than 14 days and recalled for even one day, they receive 14 days’ pay
- Preserved earning capability.
- Preserved all classes of service (yard, extra board and pool freight kept separate from each other).
Articles V-VII negotiations
See attached for the June 18th update on negotiations on Articles V-VII (Scheduled Days Off/Automated Bid Scheduling/Pools and Extra Boards).
Brothers and Sisters, The negotiations over Articles V-VII (Scheduled Days Off/Automated Bid Scheduling/Pools and Extra Boards) have reached a stalemate with no further meetings scheduled prior to the June 25th deadline for Article V or the July 13th deadline for Articles VI & VII.
The intent of PEB 250 and Public Law No. 117-216 is for the parties to negotiate improvements to our membership’s quality of life. The Carrier’s demands at the bargaining table are excessive and would deteriorate our members’ quality of life while creating a tremendous financial windfall for the Carrier. As General Chairpersons, we have remained unified at the bargaining table and have held firm on improving the quality of life for our membership. We will not agree to any terms that limit our members’ earnings, penalize them for utilizing contractual time off, or decrease their quality of life.
Due to the Carrier’s reluctance to schedule any further meetings prior to the deadlines, the matter will most likely be resolved in arbitration.Time off for Illness and Wellness Agreement
The Time Off for Illness and Wellness Agreement has been signed and is in effect as of August 1st.
Paid Sick Leave Update
The following is from the General Committee regarding the local chairmen vote on the proposed paid sick leave agreement:
This is in reference to the ballot dated July 11, 2023, concerning the proposed Agreement for Time Off for Illness and Wellness. As you can see from the attached results, an overwhelming majority voted in favor of the proposed Agreement.
The other General Committees on UP have also ratified the proposal, and we are working with Carrier to finalize the Agreement. A fully executed copy will be sent to each of you and posted on the General Committee website as soon as it is received from Carrier.
As a reminder, for the remainder of 2023, members working in the class or craft of trainperson, regardless of assignment in road or yard service (including Hostler/Hostler Helpers and Firemen-in-Training) will be provided three (3) paid sick days. Beginning January 1, 2024, members will be provided five (5) paid sick days, the option to convert three (3) vacation days to paid sick days, broader use of the additional paid leave day, and banking of up to sixty (60) days of any unused personal leave days, paid sick days, and the additional paid leave day.
Fraternally,
Luke Edington
Proposed Paid Sick Leave Agreement
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Recent BLET Agreements
BLET Paid Sick Leave AgreementBLET UP System Work Rules Agreement
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