Union Pacific Locomotive Engineers Ratify Five-Year Contract

Union Pacific locomotive engineers have voted to ratify a new five-year labor agreement with the company, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) Teamsters Union said Friday, according to Reuters (10-3-25).

The deal covers nearly 6,000 members represented by BLET, a division of the rail conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The new contract provides wage increases totaling 18.8% over its duration and includes enhanced health and welfare benefits, the union said.

In related news, the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers–Transportation Division (SMART-TD), the largest US rail union, last week approved Union Pacific’s proposed $85 billion acquisition of Norfolk Southern. The merger would create the nation’s first coast-to-coast freight rail operator and reshape the movement of goods nationwide.

Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern are expected to submit a formal merger application to the Surface Transportation Board by late October or early 2026.