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12/6/2021
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART-TD) late last week filed motions for preliminary injunctions, seeking to immediately halt BNSF Railway Co.'s and Metra's COVID-19 vaccination mandates and require the railroads to negotiate the issue.
The BLET and SMART-TD seek to restore and preserve the status quo that was in place prior to the implementation of the mandates, union leaders said in a joint press release.
The suits filed Dec. 3 are in addition to the counterclaims BLET and SMART-TD filed against the carriers last month.
BNSF on Nov. 7 and Metra on Nov. 8 filed suits against the BLET and SMART-TD, among other unions, seeking a declaration from the courts that vaccine mandates concerned a "minor dispute" subject to arbitration on the grounds that it involves a matter of interpretation of the parties' existing collective bargaining agreements.
The carriers also sought orders prohibiting the BLET and SMART-TD from striking, picketing and taking other job actions in protest of the mandate.
BLET and SMART-TD counterclaimed on Nov. 12, alleging in part that the carriers' vaccine mandates are a "direct violation" of the Railway Labor Act.
The BLET and SMART-TD are involved in similar lawsuits with Amtrak, Norfolk Southern Railway and Union Pacific Railroad.