{"id":325800,"date":"2026-11-11T22:28:42","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T22:28:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/325800\/"},"modified":"2026-11-11T22:28:42","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T22:28:42","slug":"wheeling-lake-erie-engineers-conductors-strike-over-managers-filling-crew-positions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/325800\/","title":{"rendered":"Wheeling & Lake Erie engineers, conductors strike over managers filling crew positions"},"content":{"rendered":"

About 140 engineers and conductors at the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway<\/a> went on strike Wednesday, Nov. 11, over the railroad<\/a>\u2019s use of managers to perform conductors\u2019 work, according to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.<\/p>\n

The union said picket lines went up at railroad locations beginning at noon Wednesday but offered no details. It contends that the railroad\u2019s actions violate both its collective bargaining agreement<\/a> and a federal court order dating to 2013.<\/p>\n

The dispute involves a regional freight railroad operating over 840 miles of track, with a network extending from Hagerstown, Maryland, through West Virginia and Pennsylvania, serving Pittsburgh and northeastern Ohio, and reaching Toledo.<\/p>\n

FreightWaves has reached out to W&LE management for comment. The railroad is owned by FTAI Infrastructure Inc., (NASDAQ: FIP<\/a>) which acquired it in 2025 for $1.05 billion.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur members at the Wheeling & Lake Erie have the full support of our national union, as well as the Teamsters,\u201d BLET National President Mark Wallace said in a statement. Wallace also serves as president of the Teamsters Rail Conference.<\/p>\n

The union posted images of picketing protestors that appeared to be taken at the railroad\u2019s headquarters in Brewster, Ohio.<\/p>\n

According to the union, the strike centers on the railroad\u2019s insistence on assigning managers to work as conductors. BLET says the practice revives an issue that led to a strike and federal court proceedings in 2013.<\/p>\n

In that earlier dispute, the union said, W&LE sought to replace conductors with managers and, in some instances, operate trains with only one crew member. BLET contends those practices violated its contract and long-established safety practices.<\/p>\n

The union maintains that the railroad\u2019s current actions violate a federal court order arising from that confrontation. The underlying court order and details of the current assignments were not included in the supplied statement.<\/p>\n

BLET characterizes the railroad\u2019s conduct as a \u201cmajor dispute\u201d under the Railway Labor Act and argues that it permits the union to take immediate \u201cself-help,\u201d including a strike.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis employer has not only violated our contract and compromised safety standards; they also have arrogantly thumbed their nose at the federal courts,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cWe will protect the members we represent and the communities this railroad serves by shutting down train operations until this railroad\u2019s management abides by court orders and the terms of our agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why it matters: The walkout threatens to disrupt an important regional freight link serving steel mills and other industrial customers across a four-state network.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to\u00a0FreightWaves\u2019 Rail e-newsletter<\/a>\u00a0and get the latest insights on rail freight right in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Read more articles by Stuart Chirls\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Read more:<\/p>\n

US rail traffic hits intermodal record as October freight gains signal economic resilience, says AAR<\/a><\/p>\n

Rising Q3 transportation costs squeeze manufacturers, reward railroads and reshape trade<\/a><\/p>\n

Cosco profit rockets 81% as ocean freight revenue climbs in Q3<\/a><\/p>\n

Asia-U.S. West Coast ocean container spot rates up 343% since start of Iran war, says Xeneta<\/a><\/p>\n

Strike at Los Angeles-Long Beach port delayed as union contract talks continue<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"About 140 engineers and conductors at the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway went on strike Wednesday, Nov. 11,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[131961,136,138,137,59,24603,2957,27124],"class_list":["post-325800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-brotherhood-of-locomotive-engineers-and-trainmen","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-labor","tag-railroad","tag-strike","tag-wheeling-lake-erie-railway"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}