July 29, 2025 — In response to the announced merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS) is raising urgent concerns about the implications for safety, transparency, and the treatment of employees across the network.
“This proposed merger may look impressive on paper; but we’ve seen how consolidation often plays out in the real world,” said BRS President Mike Baldwin. “Cuts to staffing, rushed integrations, and top-down decisions that ignore the craft-knowledge of railroaders are a recipe for diminished safety and growing distrust.”
The BRS is urging federal regulators and the Surface Transportation Board to take a hard look at how this merger would impact the men and women responsible for maintaining and protecting the nation’s signal infrastructure. With past mergers, the cost has often been shouldered by those doing the work, not by those collecting the profits.
“We have no interest in being spectators, while another megamerger sidelines the workforce and compromises safety,” Baldwin continued. “This isn’t just a business deal—It is a seismic shift in how freight rail operates in America. Signalmen must be heard.”
The BRS will be monitoring the following as conditions for the merger's review and endorsement:
- Safety standards must be strengthened not sidelined, in the name of efficiency.
- Signal staffing must not be cut further. The workforce is already stretched thin and beyond safe limits.
- Direct labor consultation during all phases of integration.
- Enforceable safety guarantees and transparency in operational changes.
As the merger undergoes regulatory scrutiny, the BRS will actively advocate for the safety and stability of its members. This organization will not support any outcome that places shareholder gains ahead of employee well-being.
“Railroads only function because workers show up, every day, in all weather conditions, to make it safe,” said Baldwin. “The next chapter of this industry must be built with those workers at the center.”
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