Rail & Labor News from RWU
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Weekly Digest Number 47 - November 21, 2023 | |
Welcome to the RWU Rail & Labor News! This news bulletin is produced and emailed out each Tuesday morning. We hope you find each week's news and information useful. If so, please share with co-workers, friends, and colleagues. If you like, you can sign them up to get all the news from RWU HERE. Or forward them the link. Note: If you read over this news bulletin each week, you will be sure to never miss the important news of what is going on in the railroad world from a worker's perspective!
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Editor's Note: This in-depth behind-the-scenes look into the rail industry is so well done and so important that we ran it as a Special Bulletin last week. You may have already read it. If not, please do now as it is important reading for every railroad worker. Most will recognize the stories, conditions, and behaviors described herein. For many of us, this is the article we have waited our entire railroad career to finally see in print. NOTE: If you are a railroad worker and have experienced a scenario similar to any of those described in the report, please do not hesitate to contact the authors. Apparently there will soon be a follow up to this article. | |
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by Topher Sanders, Jessica Lussenhop, Dan Schwartz, Danelle Morton and Gabriel Sandoval / Nov. 15
Railroad companies have penalized workers for taking the time to make needed repairs and created a culture in which supervisors threaten and fire the very people hired to keep trains running safely. Regulators say they can’t stop this intimidation.
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Editor's Note: This firing of a good employee at UP may just be the tip of the iceberg. How many Class One employees have been unjustly fired by the Class Ones carriers in recent years may never be known. RWU and our sister organization the Railroad Workers Education & Legal Defense Foundation (RWF) have taken up the cause of rail workers who are unjustly disciplined or dismissed. We currently are taking up the case of fired UP locomotive engineer Paul Lindsey | |
Editor's Note: Veteran YouTube film maker Alan Fisher lays out the case against selling off such a public asset to private industry. Sadly, the sale narrowly passed by a narrow margin on November 8th, and one of the few publicly owned pieces of rail infrastructure is expected to be sold off to Norfolk Southern. | |
Editor's Note: As rail unions like RMT in the UK battle to bring privatized rail systems back into the public realm, others fight to keep their railroads from being privatized. Private investors recognize the huge profits to be made from rail, and as a result are pushing privatization around the world. Meantime here in North America, RWU is fighting to bring the rail network under public control. | |
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Mick Lynch / November 14
On November 5, 1993, John Major’s right-wing Tory government passed the Railways Act. The act moved ahead with what even Margaret Thatcher had considered a step too far: the privatization of Britain’s railways. Since then, at least £31 billion has leaked out of the network and into the hands of the private sector, and we — the workers and passengers on Britain’s trains — are living with the dire consequences.
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Editor's Note: In addition to the gains referenced in the article below, all employees stand to gain more Paid Time Off (PTO) under an entirely new system of vacation pay that throws out an archaic national vacation agreement from the 1940s. Training pay is dramatically increased, and certification pay is doubled. The MLK holiday is especially notable as RWU has been pushing for this in recent years. This contract has the potential to be a trendsetter in labor contracts both in passenger and freight service. | |
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Trains Magazine / November 14
Amtrak has reached a tentative contract agreement with its more than 1,400 locomotive engineers, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has announced.
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Editor's Note: This comes as no surprise to the workers who labor in the rail industry. But it begs the question: Just how do we build the solidarity, unity and power we need as workers to get our industry turned around and become one that meets the needs of its workers, shippers, passengers, communities and the nation? A good place to start would be to JOIN RWU! | |
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Charlie Pierce / Nov 15
A ProPublica investigation shows that railroads work about as well as other industries that are left to regulate themselves. What ProPublica found is fairly typical of all industries that the government trusts to self-regulate—one feature of which is that the industry grinds up the people who work for it.
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Editor's Note: Oberman has been vociferous in his criticism of the rail industry on many fronts the last three years. Yet very little has substantively been done by STB to clip the wings of the Class Ones. It remains to be seen if the new head of the agency - whether Robert Primus or otherwise - will be able to reverse the destructive trajectory of the rail industry. | |
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by Frank N. Wilner / Nov 16
In a category 5 hurricane force stunning announcement, Surface Transportation Board (STB) Chairperson Martin J. Oberman announced late on Nov 16 that he will not seek renomination to a second term (his first term expires Dec. 31) and depart the agency in early 2024 during his statutory 12-month holdover period.
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U.S. Railroad Retirement Board
In January 2024, the average regular railroad retirement employee annuity will increase $86 a month to $3,450 and the average of combined annuities for an employee and spouse will increase $120 a month to $4,980. For those aged widow(er)s eligible for an increase, the average annuity will increase $51 a month to $1,862.
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Editor's Note: This appears to be a step in the right direction, as passenger rail has traditionally been given short thrift by STB. | |
Progressive Railroading / Nov 13
The Surface Transportation Board intends to establish a federal passenger-rail advisory committee (PRAC). The committee will provide nonbinding advice and recommendations on passenger-rail service issues, including those impacting intercity- and commuter-rail passengers and operators, government entities, freight-rail carriers and their customers, railway labor and the general public.
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Editor's Note: More good news on the passenger rail front. This route joins a number of others around the country under consideration for restoration of passenger service. | |
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David Thomas / Nov 15
Canada’s VIA Rail confirmed Nov. 14 that it is engaged with Amtrak and other rail operators in discussions aimed at extending Amtrak’s existing Chicago-Detroit Wolverine service to Toronto’s downtown Union Station. Amtrak is enthusiastic in describing prospects for the proposed service, stating that “improved frequency along the corridor, with connections to Toronto, will increase demand for rail travel and decrease traffic congestion.
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Editor's Note: While the corporation states it has no intention of eliminating the Potomac Eagle service, here is just another example of a publicly owned piece of track (in this case the state of West Virginia) having control sold off to private industry, leaving the public at the mercy of private interests. In public hands, the people have some say in train operations and practices. Held privately, they have practically none. | |
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MARSHA CHWALIK / OCTOBER 31
A national short line railroad company is in contract talks with the state to enter a long term lease agreement with for 51 miles of railroad in the South Branch Valley. OmniTrax is looking for the opportunity to enter into the agreement to operate the line running in the area of Romney to Moorefield. Already OmniTrax operates the Winchester and Western Railroad in the eastern panhandle which among other businesses services the Clorox and Proctor and Gamble operations in Martinsburg.
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Editor's Note: Upwards of 80% of the crafts at Class One railroads have now reached agreement with the carriers on sick leave pay. These holdouts need to be confronted and brought to heel! | |
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BMWED NEWS RELEASE
This [past] Wednesday, BMWED members on Indiana Harbor Belt (ASF) and Canadian National (WCSD) demonstrated outside those respective offices in Hammond, Ind. and Homewood, Ill. Management on both properties still refuse to provide paid time off for unexpected illness. In the case of CN, they remain insistent on tying stipulations that would penalize its use, punitive conditions that our membership can’t accept.
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Editor's Note: Passenger rail advocacy groups are organizing and mobilizing around support for a robust and environmentally sound rail system. Alliances are being built between workers, environmentalists, and advocacy groups to achieve a modern, fluid, efficient rail system that can provide tens of thousands of good rail jobs and a bright future for the rail industry. Please attend! | |
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Why High-Tech Driving Doesn't Solve Traffic, and Why a Robust Rail Network is a Better Alternative
Peter Norton, Ph.D, will be giving a presentation about why improvements to automobile technology can’t solve the fundamental underlying problems of a highly car-dependent society, based on research from his books Autonorama: The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving and Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City.
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NEWS FROM AROUND THE LABOR MOVEMENT | |
Editor's Note: The greater the solidarity across the working class, the more likely we can win better wages, benefits and working conditions. As Eugene Debs - founder of the American Railway Union - put it, “We need to have faith in each other. We are in precisely the same position. We depend absolutely on each other. We know that without solidarity, nothing is possible, and that with solidarity, nothing is impossible.” This idea of a common contract expiration date across all industries is surely an idea whose time has come! | |
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HAMILTON NOLAN / November 8
The UAW’s call for unions to align their contract expirations is legitimately achievable. But the work starts now.
“We invite unions around the country to align your contract expirations with our own so that together we can begin to flex our collective muscles,” the UAW declared.
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Editor's Note: The lack of overtime pay and many other rip-offs in the trucking industry have historically added to the fake "advantages" of shipping by truck. If truckers were paid what they are worth, and trucking firms paid the full costs of highway repairs, maintenance, environmental damage, etc., countless loads would divert from road to rail. (that is so say if the Class Ones would accept and be able to move them). | |
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Rachel Premack / November 12
Bipartisan lawmakers have introduced a bill that would give America’s 2.19 million truck drivers the right to overtime pay.
A 1938 law guaranteed most American workers minimum wage and time-and-a-half pay if they worked more than 40 hours in one week. However, that law excluded truck drivers.
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Editor's Note: Workers worldwide bear the costs of constant warfare and as a result, unions are speaking out against the tragedy in the Middle East. The postal workers recently spoke up for an end to the Israel - Hamas war. | |
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Farah Siddiqi / November 10
One of the nation's largest labor unions has become the latest organization to demand a ceasefire in Gaza as Israel's war with Hamas plays out.
The American Postal Workers Union announced on Wednesday that its members are "shocked and saddened by the tragic and ongoing violence in Israel and Palestine." The statement condemned the Hamas violence of Oct. 7 but also said Israel's response "has made the prospects for peace more remote."
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Editor's Note: After rejecting a Tentative Contract earlier this fall, workers have now ratified what appears to be a better deal. But many workers in the unit are pushing for more, a sign that the rank and labor are fired up and ready to fight. | |
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David Taube / Nov 16
United Auto Workers ended their 39-day strike at Mack Trucks on Wednesday, voting to ratify a new contract with the OEM. Union workers will get a 36% increase on average over five years, with an immediate wage increase of nearly 15%, Mack spokesperson Kimberly Pupillo told Trucking Dive. The agreement covers about 3,900 workers in Florida, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
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Editor's Note: Workers rights and civil rights are inextricably linked. To achieve the high degree of solidarity we need as workers to win our demands, there can be no place for division within our ranks. We need solidarity across race, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, etc. while simultaneously building that same solidarity across craft lines, carrier, union affiliation, type of rail service, etc. | |
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EVENT: 2024 MLK Civil and Human Rights Conference Jan. 12–14, 2024, Montgomery, Alabama
Team AFL-CIO
It’s a crucial moment for the labor and civil rights movements. Workers across the country are organizing at historic rates, demanding dignity, respect and justice, both on the job and in our communities. We are facing unprecedented attacks on our rights from politicians and judges who would rather put the interests of corporations over the needs of working people.
In January, we will come together to not only strengthen the bond between our two movements, but also to reignite our shared commitment to democracy and winning racial and economic justice for all. Please join us.
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Weekly Derailment Department | | | | |
