Rail unions emphasize positives of their tentative deals

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The two biggest U.S. railroad unions were working Wednesday ahead of key ratification votes to dispel rumors about the contract deals that averted a potentially devastating nationwide strike .

The unions have been fighting rumors on social media that they would impose the deals on workers if they vote to reject them. The rumors were sparked by a railroad trade publication suggesting that was possible in an article earlier this month.

And some newly formed worker groups that helped organize protests at railyards across the country last week have been urging workers, some harboring deep resentment over how they've been treated by the railroads in recent years, to reject the proposed contracts.

“The challenge is to first get past how angry they are,” said Dennis Pierce, president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. “The education process we’re working through now is to try to get concentrating on the facts of the deal instead of the emotions of what they’ve been through. And that’s a heavy lift.”

He added that there are some “out there from the outside and inside with their own agendas that are trying to keep everyone agitated.”

The BLET and the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers unions are instead emphasizing to their members the potential benefits of the five-year deals, which include 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses. Union leaders are stressing that the only way a contract will be imposed on members is if Congress steps in to block a strike because so many businesses rely on railroads to deliver their raw materials and finished products.

Workers were ready to strike until the Biden administration helped broker a last-minute deal that prevented a...