Paul Sorrow
National President
sorrow@ble-t.org
Paul T. Sorrow is National President of the 59,000-member Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, a Division of the Rail Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He was promoted to the union's highest office on November 13, 2009.
President Sorrow is the senior member of the BLET Advisory Board. Prior to his elevation to the Brotherhood’s highest office, President Sorrow served as Acting President and as First-Vice President.
He served as First Vice President — the union’s second highest office — from April 8, 2008 to October 15, 2009. He served the Brotherhood as Acting President from October 15-November 13, 2009.
Throughout his career, President Sorrow was elected to four consecutive terms of office as Vice President. He was first elected Vice President in 1991 at the Fourth Quinquennial Convention. He was then reelected in 1996 at the Fifth Quinquennial Convention in Detroit. He was subsequently reelected by acclamation twice, first in 2001 at the Sixth Quinquennial Convention in Miami and again in 2006 at the First Quadrennial Convention in Las Vegas.
Prior to his first election in 1991 to vice-president, he was promoted to the office of BLE General Chairman on the CSX Transportation (CSXT) Eastern Lines in September of 1985, winning reelection to the post by acclamation twice - once in 1986 and again in 1989.
In 1996, President Sorrow was the BLE's appointed member of Operation Lifesaver's (OL) National Program Development Council. OL is a highway-rail crossing safety education outreach to the public. He is the first BLET international officer to have this appointment.
He began his professional railway career in 1965, with the Seaboard Air Line. One year to the day after he went firing for the railroad, he earned his promotion to locomotive engineer in 1966. He joined the BLE in 1972, and served as local chairman of his Abbeville, S.C. local division from 1979-83. In 1983, he was elected to the office of Vice-Chairman for the CSX Transportation's Eastern Lines General Committee of Adjustment, and served through August of 1985.
He served as Chief of Staff at BLET National Division headquarters for several years during the mid 1990s.
As Vice President, President Sorrow he has helped to negotiate several groundbreaking labor agreements at Norfolk Southern, CSX and Grand Trunk Western. His agreements have contained innovative provisions such as bonuses for locomotive engineers tied to the railroad's financial performance and scope rules that protect the craft of locomotive engineer in the face of evolving technology.
"Service to this fine Brotherhood has been a cornerstone of my livelihood for the past three decades," President Sorrow said. "I look forward to serving the BLET membership as National President. Our Advisory Board and our staff, who are second to none in their ability and dedication, make for one heck of a team, and we are well prepared to face the challenges that lie ahead.”
His father, Norman R. Sorrow, and brother, Norman F. Sorrow, both served as engineers on the former Seaboard Coast Line Railroad and are now retired.
Before entering the industry, President Sorrow attended Erskine College in Due West, S.C. Born August 23, 1946, in Abbeville, he and his wife Lynn have one son, Radd, and three daughters, Haley, Kasey and Ashley. His favorite recreational activity is spending time with his five grandchildren.
