Freight Railroad Union Ordered to Bargain Over Train Crew Size

A union that represents railroad conductors is being ordered by a federal judge to bargain over minimum train crew sizes with a group of freight railway companies.

At issue is whether freight train crews will continue to consist of at least two people—an engineer and a conductor. The companies asked the court to require the AFL-CIO’s SMART Transportation Division to bargain at the local level over changes to the staffing minimum, and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a permanent injunction ordering the union to stop “refusing and/or failing to bargain in good faith with ...