WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Stop the Rail Merger Coalition today praised the Surface Transportation Board (STB) for ordering Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern to publicly disclose detailed information about how their proposed merger would affect railroad jobs.
For months, UP and NS have claimed they are committed to transparency. Yet when it came time to tell workers and communities where jobs could be eliminated, created or transferred, the railroads labeled that information “highly confidential” and tried to keep it out of public view.
What are they hiding?
“Railroad workers deserve to know whether their jobs and communities are on the chopping block,” said the Stop the Rail Merger Coalition. “UP and NS cannot demand public trust while refusing to disclose basic information about the people whose livelihoods could be affected by this merger. This is more proof that UP and NS cannot simply be trusted to police themselves or taken at their word. They have made sweeping promises about protecting jobs while withholding the very information needed to test those claims. The STB was right to force transparency, and every claim the railroads make about this merger should receive the same level of scrutiny.”
The STB rightly rejected Union Pacific’s attempt to conceal the data, finding that the railroad failed to explain why employment information routinely made public in previous merger proceedings should be hidden now. Read more about STB’s order here.
The coalition also welcomed the Board’s warning that it will not tolerate retaliation or conduct intended to discourage workers, shippers, suppliers or other stakeholders from participating honestly in the merger review. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) recently sent a letter to the STB “urging the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to take Union Pacific’s threat of retaliation against shippers who do not support its merger with Norfolk Southern seriously.” This followed Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena’s reportedly urging “retaliation against shippers who oppose the merger, including threats of predatory rate increases during contract renewals, unfair demurrage fines, drop-offs in service, or weaponized embargoes.”
The proposed UP-NS merger would create the largest railroad in North America and give the combined company control over nearly half of the nation’s freight rail system. The Stop the Rail Merger Coalition represents a broad cross section of the U.S. economy and the majority of union workers at UP and NS who are concerned the transaction would reduce competition, threaten jobs, raise costs and weaken supply-chain reliability.