Workers understood the raise was cover for a wholesale remaking of pay and conditions
Across eleven American states, some 1,700 railroad workers at CPKC delivered a resounding rejection of nine-year tentative agreements in May 2026, with engineers voting 65 percent no and conductors 58 percent no at a 91.5 percent turnout. What management and union officials called modernization — consolidating eleven contracts into two long-term hourly deals with a 32.5 percent wage increase spread across a decade — workers recognized as a fundamental restructuring of their livelihoods dressed in the language of progress. This vote is not an isolated grievance but a chapter in a longer story of rank-and-file resistance, following similar rejections at Norfolk Southern, BNSF, and CSX, as workers across American railroads push back against an industry model that extracts ever more from labor while rewarding capital ever more generously.
- Engineers and conductors at CPKC rejected parallel tentative agreements by decisive margins, with turnout among conductors reaching 91.5 percent — a signal of how urgently workers felt the stakes.
- The proposed shift from mileage-based to hourly pay struck workers as a structural dismantling of generations-old compensation, with the headline wage increase of 32.5 percent dissolving to barely 3 percent annually once spread across nine years.
- The simultaneous rejection by two separate crafts — engineers and conductors — marks a rare moment of cross-craft solidarity, the very kind of unified resistance that carriers and union leadership have worked to prevent through fragmented, craft-by-craft bargaining.
- The rejection follows a now-familiar pattern: Norfolk Southern conductors voted 81 percent no in 2024, BNSF workers rejected a one-person crew deal, and CSX workers pushed back — yet in each case union officials returned with near-identical agreements and wore down opposition through delay and pressure.
- Workers now face the same crossroads their predecessors faced in 2022, when Congress banned a national strike and imposed a contract — the question is whether this rejection becomes a catalyst for independent rank-and-file organization or another managed defeat.
On May 21, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen announced that CPKC workers had rejected a tentative contract by a wide margin. Engineers voted more than 65 percent no with 71 percent turnout; conductors represented by SMART-TD voted 58 percent no with a striking 91.5 percent participation rate. Roughly 1,700 workers across eleven states — employed by CPKC, the rail giant formed in 2023 from the merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern — had spoken clearly.
The rejected agreements, announced in late April, would have consolidated eleven separate contracts into two nine-year hourly deals running from 2025 to 2034. Union leadership highlighted a 32.5 percent wage increase as the centerpiece. Workers did the arithmetic differently: spread across nine years, that amounted to barely 3 percent annually, before inflation, and before accounting for the deeper transformation buried in the fine print. The shift from mileage-based to hourly compensation struck at the heart of how engineers have been paid for generations, and the consolidation of eleven contracts into two erased regional distinctions that had long allowed for some variation in working conditions.
The CPKC vote is the latest in a pattern of rank-and-file resistance building across American railroads. Norfolk Southern conductors rejected their contract by 81 percent in October 2024. BNSF workers turned down a deal that would have enabled one-person crews. CSX maintenance workers rejected their agreement outright. In each case, union officials eventually forced second votes on substantially similar deals, using delay and pressure to wear down opposition. The strategy traces back to 2022, when Congress — at Biden's urging — banned a near-national railroad strike and imposed a contract, teaching carriers and union leadership alike that fragmentation and attrition could contain worker resistance.
What makes the CPKC rejection notable is that engineers and conductors — two separate crafts — moved together against parallel agreements in the same vote. That cross-craft solidarity is precisely what the industry's divide-and-conquer bargaining structure is designed to prevent. Meanwhile, the underlying conditions that nearly produced a national strike four years ago remain unchanged: Precision Scheduled Railroading continues to squeeze crews, schedules remain unpredictable, and the railroads keep rewarding shareholders — CSX recently authorized a new $5 billion stock buyback — while derailments remain routine and the memory of East Palestine lingers.
The Trump administration is pressing further deregulation, with the Federal Railroad Administration now led by a former railroad executive and industry lobbying intensifying to eliminate the federal two-person crew requirement. Both parties have aligned with the carriers' agenda in their own ways. The rejection is a powerful statement, but workers and observers alike understand that without independent rank-and-file organization capable of coordinating across crafts and carriers, the pattern of the past three years is likely to repeat: rejection, delay, pressure, and a second vote on a deal that changes little.
On May 21, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen announced that its members at Canadian Pacific Kansas City had rejected a tentative contract by a decisive margin. With 71 percent of engineers voting, more than 65 percent said no. A parallel vote among conductors and train-service workers represented by SMART-TD showed even higher turnout—91.5 percent—with 58 percent voting against their own agreement. Together, the two rejections involved roughly 1,700 workers spread across eleven states from Alabama to Tennessee, all employed by CPKC, the North American rail giant formed in 2023 when Canadian Pacific merged with Kansas City Southern.
The agreements that workers turned down had been announced in late April and were framed by management and union officials as modernization. The deals would have consolidated eleven separate contracts into two long-term hourly agreements running nine years, from 2025 to 2034. Union leadership pointed to a 32.5 percent wage increase spread across the decade as the centerpiece of the offer. But workers did the math. Divided by nine years and compounded, that amounted to barely more than 3 percent annually—before inflation ate into it, and before accounting for the fundamental restructuring of how they would be paid and how they would work.
The shift to hourly wages struck at the heart of how railroad engineers have been compensated for generations. Historically, they were paid based on miles traveled, a system that reflected the nature of their work. The new structure would upend that entirely. Workers understood immediately that the wage increase was being used as cover for something far larger: a wholesale remaking of pay and working conditions designed to serve the railroad's interests, not theirs. The consolidation of eleven contracts into two also meant that workers across different regions and former companies—Kansas City Southern, Mid-South Rail, Tex-Mex Railway, and others—would be bound together under identical terms, eliminating the distinctions that had previously allowed for some variation in conditions.
The CPKC rejection arrives as part of a larger pattern of rank-and-file resistance that has been building across American railroads. In October 2024, Norfolk Southern conductors initially voted down their contract by 81 percent. The following month, BNSF workers rejected a deal that would have enabled one-person train crews. CSX maintenance workers rejected their agreement, and CSX engineers only narrowly ratified theirs with 53.6 percent. In each case, union officials forced second votes on substantially identical deals, using delays and pressure to wear down opposition until contracts passed.
This strategy reflects lessons learned from 2022, when tens of thousands of railroaders came close to striking in defiance of both the union apparatus and the White House. That near-revolt was only stopped when Congress, at Biden's urging, banned the strike and imposed a contract. Since then, the carriers and union leadership have worked to prevent a repeat by fragmenting workers into dozens of separate agreements divided by craft, by company, and by territory. A unified national fight, they reasoned, would be harder to contain. The CPKC vote disrupts that calculation. The fact that both engineers and conductors rejected parallel agreements in the same vote shows, for the first time in this round of negotiations, that workers across different crafts can move together—precisely what the carriers and union officials are trying to prevent.
The conditions that nearly sparked a national strike four years ago have not improved. Precision Scheduled Railroading, the operating model that prioritizes cost-cutting above all else, remains the industry standard. Workers endure skeleton crews, longer trains, unpredictable schedules, constant on-call status, and relentless pressure on rest and family time. Meanwhile, the railroads continue to reward shareholders lavishly. CSX alone recently announced a new $5 billion stock buyback authorization. Derailments remain routine across Class I railroads, with hundreds occurring annually. The 2023 toxic chemical disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, demonstrated the catastrophic human cost of the industry's deregulation and cost-cutting obsession.
The Trump administration is accelerating the assault. The Federal Railroad Administration is now led by David Fink, a former president of Pan Am Railways, and the industry is pushing to repeal the federal two-person crew requirement, expand automated track inspection, and eliminate jobs. Both major political parties have aligned themselves with these goals. The Democrats imposed the 2022 contract and blocked the strike; Republicans are now advancing deregulation. The union apparatus, meanwhile, has shown itself to be structurally incapable of genuine resistance. Its strategy is to wear down workers through delays and misinformation, then force a second vote on a marginally altered version of the same deal.
The CPKC engineers, conductors, and train-service workers now face a critical moment. The rejection is a powerful statement, but it is only the beginning. Workers must build their own organizations independent of the union bureaucracy—rank-and-file committees with real power to coordinate across crafts, carriers, and borders. The Railroad Workers Rank-and-File Committee, founded during the 2022 fight, must be rebuilt and expanded in every CPKC yard. The struggle of these workers must be linked with all other railroad crafts and with the broader working class facing the same corporate assault. Without that kind of independent organization and unified action, the pattern of the past three years will repeat: rejection, delay, pressure, and ultimately a second vote on a deal that changes little.
Citas Notables
Workers immediately understood that the 'raise' was being used as a cover for a wholesale restructuring of pay and working conditions in the interests of the carrier.— Analysis of worker response to the contract proposal
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does it matter that both engineers and conductors voted no on the same day?
Because the carriers and unions have spent three years trying to keep these groups separate. If engineers and conductors can move together, the whole strategy of dividing workers by craft and company falls apart. That's when a real fight becomes possible.
The unions presented this as a raise. Why did workers see it differently?
Because they can read. Thirty-two percent over nine years is barely 3 percent a year. But more than that—the raise was being used to justify dismantling how they've been paid for generations. You're trading your entire system of compensation for a wage that doesn't even keep up with inflation. That's not modernization. That's a con.
What happened in 2022 that makes it so important now?
Tens of thousands of railroaders were ready to strike. They nearly paralyzed the country. Congress had to step in and ban the strike to stop it. That showed the power workers have. But it also showed that the unions won't fight, and the government will step in to protect the carriers. Workers learned that lesson. They're not going to trust the apparatus again.
So what happens next? Does CPKC just accept the rejection?
No. The union will delay, negotiate minor changes, maybe add some cosmetic language, then force a second vote. That's what happened at Norfolk Southern, BNSF, CSX. The goal is to wear workers down until they give in. Unless workers build their own organizations to coordinate and hold the line, that's exactly what will happen here.
Is there any chance the union actually fights for something better?
The union apparatus cannot be reformed. It's structurally integrated into the system that enforces these contracts. It serves the carriers and the state, not the workers. The only way forward is for workers to build independent rank-and-file committees with real power. That's the only thing that's ever worked.