United Transportation Union v. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Company and Longview Switching Company

I. BACKGROUND

LSC is a Class III rail carrier, jointly owned by BNSF and another, non-party railroad, Union Pacific (“UP”). BNSF and UNITED TRANSPORTATION UNION v. BNSF 6555 UP are Class I rail carriers. LSC has a separate corporate structure, its own employees, and distinct labor agreements from BNSF. The Union represents conductors and other oper- ating employees (except engineers) of all three railroads.

Longview and Longview Junction are railyards that are part of a joint facility owned by BNSF and UP. Longview Junc- tion is adjacent to the BNSF main line from Seattle to Van- couver. Longview is approximately ½ mile from Longview Junction and serves various industry customers. Historically, three companies performed switching operations at Longview Junction: LSC, BNSF, and UP. This arrangement created sub- stantial operational inefficiencies because BNSF and UP were forced to take turns doing switching in the Longview Junction yard. One company switched its own cars for approximately twelve hours before giving way to the other for the next twelve hours. LSC also took turns doing its own switching. While one railroad switched its cars, the others…