UP Comes To Terms With Engineers

Engineers who operate trains for Union Pacific will soon have much more predictable schedules that will allow them to plan when they are going to be off. The change that the railroad announced Wednesday with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union will address one of the key quality-of-life concerns that pushed the rail industry to the brink of a strike last fall. The deal will let Union Pacific's roughly 5,600 engineers plan on having four days off in a row after spending 11 days straight on call. Union President Eddie Hall said this will be a life-altering change for engineers who had to become used to being on call 24-7 in recent years.