RWU Organizing Bulletin #3 - December 2025

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Solidarity and warm wishes from RWU this New Year's Eve. This is the end of year RWU Organizing Bulletin in which we bring you updates on our organizing activities, what we're accomplishing, our ongoing campaign goals, and how YOU as a working railroader or railroad ally can get involved in our work!

PLEASE GIVE TO THE RWU 2025 YEAR-END FUNDRAISER

Speaking of year-end, if you've been following our newsletters, you know that RWU is reaching the final days of our 2025 end-of-year giving campaign. We're trying to raise $15,000 to support a range of our work from producing our weekly railroad labor news service, to printing and mailing our quarterly newsletter, The Highball, to running a myriad of campaigns including our highly active anti-mega-merger campaign against the proposed UP-NS merger, to hosting the 2026 RWU Biennial Convention this June . . . and much more that's required to manage and grow a member-driven organization. Click the green button below to help us reach our goal!

ORGANIZING REPORT

Organizing is the lifeblood of any organization, especially a labor organization. In 2025 we re-activated an enthusiastic Organizing Committee and hired membership organizer, Keegan Waller, who will report on the status of our efforts in this recurring Organizing Bulletin.

RWU needs as many working railroaders as possible to join the movement for rank n' file railroad union democracy. As an organizing tool, we've designed two versions of a "Join RWU" sticker. If you're a member of RWU and/or a working rail, and would like to distribute and use these stickers, just email us at info@railroadworkersunited.org and we'll mail some to you!

CATCH UP WITH RWU

RWU Campaign Against Further “Class-One” Railroad Mega-Mergers

Over the past couple of months, the Anti-Merger Committee has focused on moving RWU’s opposition campaign into an “action + outreach” phase as the UP–NS merger process advances. Members have coordinated closely with allies (including UFCW organizers) on strategy and public messaging, including drafting an open letter/sign-on effort and preparing a press releases timed to key merger developments. The committee has also tracked growing labor opposition—highlighting additional locals publicly opposing the merger.

Railroad Workers United members have served as consistent, credible spokespeople in the media, speaking from firsthand experience to raise public awareness about the risks and real-world consequences of the proposed merger for rail workers, communities, and the broader public interest.

Visit our Anti-Merger campaign web page to catch up on our media coverage, press releases, our resolution, and to follow our ongoing activities.

Click the images to purchase our new anti-merger campaign stickers and lapel buttons in the RWU merch store!

More new stickers and buttons in the RWU Merch Store!

Merchandise is an organizing tool, and RWU has even more new stickers and buttons available in the RWU Merch Store. These grow out of our recent resolutions against any future threats to privatize or limit the expansion of Amtrak, and in support of a robustly funded and preserved Railroad Retirement system. Read the resolutions in full below and order stickers in the RWU merch store.

RWU is recruiting for social media and website committees in 2026

As part of a generous grant awarded to improve the effectiveness of RWU's organizing on social media, we've enlisted the help of Social Movement Technologies ("SMT"), a non-profit/NGO seasoned in providing organizing strategy, training, and campaign support to build worker power and win in the digital age. They will work with us in 2026 to teach RWU how to maximize its impact on social channels, craft messaging aligned to articulated strategy, track engagement with our campaigns over time, and translate online organizing to offline movement building. We aim to grow our team of RWU members volunteering to work on social media.

In addition, we're recruiting for help with regular website updates and content strategy. If you are an RWU member and would like to get involved in either of these committees, please email us at info@railroadworkersunited.org.

RWU mourns loss of recent fallen rails in December

RWU mourns the recent losses of our fellow railroaders killed on the job in December. One — a rail on the CSX, and a second — a conductor working on the UP in Ontario — remind us, again, to double our resolve to build a safer workplace where such tragedies are not so commonplace.

Get involved in the national movement against blame the worker, so-called “behavior-based" safety programs. Help build real union-based safety committees and programs that focus on hazard elimination and do not ignore the underlying causes of accidents, injuries and fatalities sustained on the job. For more information, see the RWU campaign page on opposing "behavior-based" safety.

Read the Fall 2025 quarterly newsletter The Highball

RWU NEWS SPOTLIGHT

RWU Trustee Ron Kaminkow interviewed in The American Prospect

In October, More Perfect Union produced the video report, How One Mega Merger Could Raise Prices on Everything. It covers how corporate consolidation and Wall Street priorities have reshaped America’s railroads, often to the detriment of safety, working conditions, and the long-term health of the rail system. The video frames these changes as part of a broader trend of deregulation and profit-driven restructuring, urging viewers to consider how these shifts affect workers, communities, and the future of rail in the U.S.

A central voice in the narrative is RWU Treasurer Hugh Sawyer—a veteran locomotive engineer and long-time labor activist. Sawyer’s decades of frontline experience offer a powerful worker-centered perspective on the industry’s transformation.

UPCOMING RWU EVENTS

MEETING

RWU International Steering Committee Meeting

Host: Railroad Workers United

Date: Tuesday, January 6th

Time: 7 p.m. Central

ONLINE | Zoom

Link