Embattled train company had faced pressure from a union to offer paid sick days to track maintenance workers.
The agreement, which the company announced Wednesday, provides sick time to roughly 3,000 unionized track maintenance workers. The deal allows employees to take four paid sick days a year and removes a stipulation in worker contracts that required them to give their supervisors 48-hour notice before taking personal days.
The company pledged $6.5 million in compensation and financial assistance for local residents following the crash, and it is complying with orders from the Environmental Protection Agency to pay for the cleanup. Those costs are a pittance compared with the money Norfolk Southern recently lavished on shareholders, critics say.
At the time of the derailment, two Norfolk Southern rail workers and one trainee were operating a train with more than 100 cars. Under Federal Railroad Administration rules, a freight train must have a minimum of two crew members.
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