Reactions to the SMART-TD Guarantee with Union Pacific

When SMART-TD announced the “Jobs for Life” deal with Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern this week, the reaction was immediate and intense. A lot of you responded to a concern we’ve been hearing for months: “Finally, I can stop worrying about whether there’s going to be a place for me if this merger goes through.”  

That relief is real. YOU, the members, are why we fought for this deal. 

But let’s be honest. We’re also hearing things like “You can’t trust the railroads” and “SMART-TD is foolish for taking them at their word.”  

We’re not going to sugarcoat it: those voices are absolutely right.  

Not Our First Rodeo  

If there’s one lesson we’ve learned since the 1860s, it’s that you cannot trust the railroads for a damn thing. They’ve got lawyers, lobbyists, and PR firms paid to get them out of any promise they ever make.  

We’re not naïve. We didn’t just crawl out of a new-hire class with our bright orange hats still on. We’ve been in the trenches too long, seen too many broken promises, and buried too many brothers and sisters to believe the railroads would do this out of the goodness of their hearts.  

That’s why, when they said no union employee would lose their job, we lawyered up. We legislated. We called in the press. Most importantly, we stood together as a force of 100,000 SMART-TD brothers and sisters with one demand: Put it in writing, make your promise legally binding. 

And that’s what they did. About 15,000 of our members who would be impacted by the merger now have a written guarantee that they cannot be furloughed as a result. It can’t be walked back. This isn’t window dressing or an attempt to put a “feel better” spin on the announcement. Our agreement will hold up in court, and it will hold up in the real world. 

Our brothers and sisters know they will have financial security, even if the railroads finally get their wish for one-person crews or fully autonomous trains.  

Bitterness from Beyond SMART-TD 

Let’s also clear something else up: many of the loudest voices trashing this deal are not SMART-TD members. Most of the naysayers and trash talkers weren’t able to get the same deal. 

We understand why they’re upset. SMART-TD is the largest and strongest union at the bargaining table, in state houses and in D.C. Now our members have this job security guarantee on the table, and they don’t. 

If the merger is approved there are going to be two kinds of employees at the new railroad: you will either be a SMART-TD member with iron-clad guarantees, or you won’t. You know which side you’re on, and so do they.  

That’s a tough pill to swallow.  

Our duty isn’t to ease the anxiety of nonmembers. SMART-TD exists to stand up for our members and their families.  

When We Stand Together, We Win 

Let’s be real: the carriers may have the money, the lawyers, and the public relations firms, but they don’t have what we have. As Jim Morrison sang with The Doors, “They’ve got the guns, but we’ve got the numbers.” And here’s what they don’t want you to know: the railroads know it, too. 

Your strength and the value you bring to this country’s supply chain and to their companies is what brought them to the table on this deal. We couldn’t be dismissed. When the history of this merger and this industry is written, it’ll be SMART-TD members who stand tall, proud, and protected. 

This deal is for every old head who laughed at you as a trainee and told you that you made the biggest mistake of your life joining the railroad because it would not be there for you in 30 years. You can tell them as of Monday, September 22, 2025, that if they believe that, they should have more faith in the union!  

In Solidarity, 
SMART-TD