RAIL WORKERS OUST UNION PRESIDENT WHO BACKED LABOR DEAL

Eddie Hall, a working engineer who pushed for a more aggressive stance in contract showdown, wins upset victory to lead major rail union BLET.

Jonah Furman
December 14 2022

Excerpt:

In a stunning upset, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, the 28,000-member union of railroad workers, has elected a new president. Eddie Hall, a local officer out of Division 28 in Tucson, Arizona, won against incumbent Dennis Pierce with 53 percent of the membership-wide vote. Hall will take office on January 1st, pending official certification of the results, and will lead the larger of the two unions that make up the Teamsters Rail Conference.

The surprise victory is the latest fallout from a national freight rail showdown in which some 60,000 rail workers had a contract imposed on them. In the BLET, the second-largest union involved in negotiations, members ratified a deal, but many members were unhappy with the outcome.

In an interview, Hall said his election spoke to rank-and-file frustrations that leadership failed to listen to the membership throughout the negotiations. “We have a union, but [members] are not involved,” he said. “I’m hoping to get out and listen to the membership.”

The BLET was one of three unions that came within hours of striking in September before reaching a last-minute tentative agreement with heavy involvement from the Biden White House and Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh.

https://perfectunion.us/rail-workers-oust-union-president-who-backed-labor-deal/