The Truth From Within: General Chairpersons From CSX Statement on Departure of CEO Joe Hinrichs

 For Immediate Release:

Jacksonville, FL – September 29, 2025:

SMART-TD General Chairpersons of CSX, Rick Lee (B&O/NMAD), Brian Killough (L&N/CSRA), Joe Bennet (SCL/CSRA), and Travis Raynes (C&O/CSRA), representing the largest portion of CSX’s workforce in train and engine service, issued the following statement regarding the transition of leadership at CSX:

“With the appointment of Steve Angel as CSX’s new Chief Executive Officer, SMART TD hopes that this change can mark the beginning of a true reset in the relationship between CSX management, the union, and the employees we represent. The men and women who keep CSX running every day deserve more than slogans and public relations campaigns. They deserve honesty, respect, and meaningful investment in their future.

Outgoing CEO Joe Hinrichs often portrayed a willingness to collaborate and personally committed to being involved in employee matters, citing his past experience with the UAW as proof that he understood the value of engagement. In practice, those commitments were never honored during his time at CSX. Despite repeated outreach, Hinrichs remained silent when critical issues were raised. On matters such as the combining of freight pools, the constant issuance of switching limit changes designed to shrink the railroad between terminal points, and repeated attempts to circumvent established pool boundaries, his responses were perfunctory at best. These hollow reassurances failed to address the real problems, leaving employees increasingly frustrated and deeply mistrustful. At the same time, Hinrichs often pointed to his informal correspondence with employees via email and at Family Days as a measure of engagement, yet he consistently sidestepped the elected representatives chosen to speak for those employees. This approach disregarded the established role of SMART TD and the craft unions and reflected a lack of respect for the collective voice of the workforce.

The disconnect was profound. While Hinrichs celebrated “ONE CSX” Family Days and other highly publicized initiatives, CSX spent more on these PR driven events than on tangible improvements for its train and engine service employees. Family Days are not inherently negative, but they became a substitute for fair investment in the workforce, a symbolic gesture that concealed rather than resolved the deepening divide between CSX management, SMART TD, and the employees we represent.

The reality is that under Hinrichs’ tenure, the relationship between CSX management, SMART TD, and the employees we represent sank to all-time lows. Negotiations over Articles V, VI, and VII of the 2022 National Agreement were driven into arbitration because CSX chose brinkmanship over genuine compromise, a strategy that deepened disparity and animosity among the T&E workforce. In addition, after the Tentative Agreement reached under Section 6 bargaining was rejected by a strong majority of the membership, CSX refused to advance any new proposals and instead filed for mediation, effectively abandoning further local bargaining. Meanwhile, day-to-day disputes over overtime, switching limits, and a wide range of existing agreement provisions that CSX continues to arbitrarily challenge have only continued to pile up without resolution. The employees we represent—thousands across the CSX network—have been misled, stonewalled, and treated as obstacles rather than valued partners.

We welcome Mr. Angel to his new role and urge him to break this cycle. Repairing the fractured relationship between CSX management, SMART TD, and its workforce cannot be an afterthought. The ball is now in CSX’s court: if there is to be a truly collaborative initiative, it must begin with repairing trust and delivering on commitments, not empty slogans.

SMART TD remains ready to engage constructively, but our members have heard enough promises. What they need now are actions, real investment, real respect, and a real partnership worthy of the sacrifices they make every day to keep CSX running.”

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If you have any questions or would like to be connected with any of the General Chairpersons who are party to this press release, please contact: