Railroad unions fighting new BNSF railroad attendance rules

By JOSH FUNK
AP Business Writer

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — BNSF’s two largest unions are raising concerns about a new attendance policy that went into effect at the railroad Tuesday. That’s because they say it penalizes employees for missing work for any reason and encourages sick employees to report for duty. The unions appealed to the secretaries of Transportation and Labor this week to intervene in the dispute after a federal judge blocked their ability to strike over the issue. Administration officials say they are monitoring the dispute but didn’t promise any immediate action to the unions. BNSF says the new policy is needed to ensure it has the workers it needs available to operate its trains.