The union that represents railroad engineers finally secured its first deal for paid sick time with Norfolk Southern, several months after other rail unions began reaching similar agreements with the major freight railroads.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen announced the deal with the Atlanta-based railroad Thursday. Roughly 3,300 engineers who operate trains for Norfolk Southern will soon get five days of paid sick leave along with the option to convert two personal leave days to sick time, for a total of seven days a year.
This deal follows the model established by the conductors union in its first sick-time deals with Norfolk Southern and CSX. Those train crew workers are getting better deals, with five days of sick time, than the other smaller rail unions that received four days of sick time. But train crews work much more unpredictable and demanding schedules than other rail workers.
The railroads have also agreed to pay workers for any unused sick time at the end of the year.
More than a third of all rail workers have reached deals to gain sick time this year. The issue and other quality-of-life concerns nearly led to an economically devastating strike last fall. Congress intervened and blocked a walkout, forcing rail workers to accept a deal that more than half of them rejected.
