CHICAGO — Norfolk Southern will require its workers to be vaccinated for COVID-19, and has filed a lawsuit in an effort to block legal action by unions representing employees.
Reuters reports the railroad filed the suit in a federal court in Chicago on Thursday, arguing that union objection to the mandate must be addressed through arbitration, rather than court action, because they involve interpretation of existing agreements, rather than changes to those agreements. The suit said the railroad had enacted the vaccine mandate a day earlier, citing an executive order requiring vaccination for federal contractors.
Union Pacific cited the same executive order in announcing its vaccine requirement earlier in the month, and filed a similar suit against three unions after the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division (SMART-TD) sued UP [see “Unions, Union Pacific file suits over vaccination requirement,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 20, 2021].
NS said it believed the unions would object based on prior statements, and that some workers and threatened walkouts, sick-outs, or work slowdowns because of the mandate. The railroad set a Dec. 8 deadline for employees to be vaccinated.
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