Last week was a pretty good week for UP. With the White House photo in his back pocket, Jim Vena turned around and got a key constituent to support the merger in the form of SMART-TD, the conductors union. From the Railway Age article,
“Union Pacific and the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers–Transportation Division on Sept. 22 announced an agreement they said ‘guarantees that SMART-TD members working in train and yardmaster service will have job protection for the length of their careers following the [UP-Norfolk Southern merger] transaction, subject to the usual requirements for continued employment.’