The proposed $85 billion merger of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern railroads has lost the support of two of their biggest unions that represent more than half the workers because they are worried the deal would increase safety risks, lead to higher shipping rates and consumer prices and cause significant disruptions.
The unions' decision they plan to announce Wednesday will make the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division two of the most prominent critics of the deal to create the nation's first transcontinental railroad. They join the American Chemistry Council, an assortment of agricultural groups and competing railroad BNSF in raising concerns that this combination would hurt competition.
