Rail & Labor News from RWU
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Weekly Digest Number 47 - November 19, 2024 | |
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. Got a hot tip? Please forward the article and a link to raillabornews@gmail.com. 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! | |
THIS WEEK'S RAIL AND LABOR NEWS | |
Editor's Note: The latest tentative agreements between the NCCC, TCU, and BRC showcase a strategy aimed at maintaining industry-wide cohesion by reinforcing previously established patterns. While the 18.8% wage increase and improved benefits might appear promising, one can’t help but wonder whether this accelerated timeline—mere days after Section 6 notices—truly reflects meaningful dialogue or a rush to secure a veneer of stability. As rail labor moves forward, the pressure will be on union members to scrutinize whether these terms address long-term priorities or merely scratch the surface of deeper systemic challenges. | |
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American Journal of Transportation / November 13th, 2024
Today, the National Carriers Conference Committee (NCCC) reached tentative national collective bargaining agreements with the Transportation Communications Union (TCU) and the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen (BRC). These agreements reached on behalf of the NCCC-represented railroads which had not earlier reached local pattern agreements with the aforementioned unions, are subject to member ratification on those railroads. Reflecting terms consistent with those pattern agreements, the tentative national agreements were entered just days after the parties exchanged section 6 notices to open the national bargaining round and build on the early progress made across the industry over the past several months.
“The NCCC is encouraged to see this progress so early in the national bargaining round,” said Jeff Rodgers, chairman of the NRLC and the NCCC. “These agreements address employee priorities, providing an 18.8% wage increase over five years, enhancing health and welfare benefits at a lower cost, and giving railroaders access to more paid vacation earlier in their careers. Importantly, they reinforce the pattern set by early agreements reached between carriers and unions at the local level, which will help guide prompt, stable outcomes for the entire industry.”
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Editor's Note: Another week, another “pattern-reinforcing” agreement from the NCCC—this time with SMART-MD. While the NCCC celebrates these rapid-fire deals as progress toward industry stability, one might question the pace at which these agreements are being churned out. Are these tentative pacts the product of meaningful negotiation, or are they setting a precedent where expedience trumps thorough advocacy? As ratification looms, union members must decide if these deals genuinely reflect their needs or merely check a box for the carriers. | |
Progressive Railroading / November 15th, 2024
The National Carriers Conference Committee (NCCC) yesterday announced it reached a tentative agreement with the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers–Mechanical Department (SMART-MD). The tentative pact is the third that the NCCC has announced this week. NCCC announced similar agreements with the Transportation Communications Union (TCU) and the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen (BRC).
The NCCC reached the agreements on behalf of represented railroads that had not previously reached local agreements with these unions, according to a press release issued by the National Rail Labor Conference (NRLC). "This agreement [with SMART-MD] ... continues to reinforce the pattern set by early agreements between carriers and unions at the local level, which will help guide prompt, stable outcomes for the entire industry,” said Jeff Rodgers, chairman of the NRLC and the NCCC. The tentative agreements must be ratified by the union's members.
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Editor's Note: Unifor’s decision to hold strike votes at CN Rail signals a firm stand against concessions and a call for tangible progress on job security, fair compensation, and working conditions. As negotiations unfold, these votes serve as a proactive assertion of collective strength, reminding both CN and the industry of the power that comes from solidarity. The outcome will not only shape the direction of this labor dispute but could set the tone for broader labor relations in Canada’s rail sector. | |
Unifor / November 15th, 2024
Unifor Council 4000 and Local 100 members working at Canadian National Railway (CN Rail) will hold strike votes in workplaces across Canada starting on November 18. “Our members’ collective voice is important to securing a fair compensation package that reflects our member's hard work and dedication,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “These strike votes are a proactive measure, ensuring our members are ready for any potential outcome.”
Council 4000 and Local 100 have called on CN to address key issues in negotiations, including job security, compensation, and working conditions. “Our priority is to secure a fair agreement and these strike votes will reinforce our collective resolve in standing up for respect and dignity at work,” said Payne. Unifor’s two national bargaining committees continued contract negotiations with CN this week in Montreal, calling for the removal of concessions and a collective agreement that values CN workers. The strike votes will provide members with an understanding of the union’s position and reinforce their commitment to reaching a fair deal.
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Editor's Note: The federal government’s intervention to end port lockouts in British Columbia and Quebec underscores the delicate balance between labor rights and economic stability. While the resumption of operations may alleviate immediate disruptions in intermodal traffic for CN and CPKC, the imposition of binding arbitration raises questions about the long-term implications for collective bargaining autonomy. As the industry navigates these developments, the effectiveness of such top-down resolutions in addressing the root causes of labor disputes remains to be seen. | |
Trains Magazine / November 12th, 2024
Canada’s labor minister has ordered port employees back to work in British Columbia and Quebec after negotiations between unions and terminal operators reached an impasse. “I have directed the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order that all operations and duties at the ports resume and to assist the parties to settle their collective agreements by imposing final and binding arbitration,” Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon said today. Workers at British Columbia ports, including Vancouver and Prince Rupert, have been locked out since Nov. 4, putting a dent in Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City international intermodal volume. In Eastern Canada, workers at the Port of Montreal were locked out over the weekend after the rank and file overwhelmingly rejected a new contract offer. CN and CPKC also handle container traffic at the Port of Montreal.
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Editor's Note: The $310,000 settlement between Hyattsville and CSX Transportation underscores a troubling reality: rail carriers often prioritize minimizing their financial exposure over taking swift responsibility for the consequences of their failures. CSX’s initial “one-and-done” reimbursement offer reveals an unwillingness to fully address the long-term costs and impacts borne by communities in the wake of derailments. Broken track components may have caused the accident, but the drawn-out negotiation process highlights a systemic issue—railroads’ resistance to genuine accountability when their operations disrupt lives and environments. | |
Hayattsville Life & Times / November 12th, 2024
The Hyattsville City Council agreed to enter into a $310,000 settlement agreement with CSX Transportation, Inc. on Oct. 21, a little more than a year after a CSX freight train derailed near the intersection of Baltimore Avenue and Decatur Street.
One locomotive and more than a dozen rail cars went off the tracks in the September 2023 derailment, spilling an unknown number of plastic pellets — otherwise known as nurdles — along the roadway. The accident, which CSX blamed on broken track components, shuttered a portion of Alternate Route 1 for more than a week. City Administrator Tracey Douglas said the settlement agreement took nearly 13 months because CSX at first offered a one-time reimbursement that would not have allowed the city to receive additional compensation for its pending expenses.
“This one did take a long time, and they really did push back and say, ‘We’re going to pay the expenses, and then we’re one-and-done,’” Douglas said at the Oct. 21 city council meeting. “They were not interested in allowing us to come back.”
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Editor's Note: Norfolk Southern’s recent agreement with Ancora Holdings to appoint a new independent director appears to be a strategic move to sidestep another contentious proxy battle. This development follows a tumultuous year marked by Ancora’s aggressive campaign to overhaul the board and oust CEO Alan Shaw, a move that garnered mixed reactions from labor unions and stakeholders. The previous proxy fight not only exposed deep divisions within the company’s governance but also highlighted the precarious balance between investor interests and operational stability. As Norfolk Southern navigates this latest agreement, one can only hope that labor unions remain uninvolved, avoiding a repeat of the previous year’s fiasco that further complicated the company’s challenges. | |
Progressive Railroading / November 14th, 2024
Norfolk Southern Corp. today announced it will add a new independent director to its board under an agreement with Ancora Holdings Group. Under the agreement, NS and Ancora will together identify an independent director to be named to the NS board. The new director, who is expected to enhance the board's gender diversity and executive leadership experience, will expand the NS board to 14 members, including 13 independent members, according to an NS press release. The agreement averts activist investor group Ancora's effort to replace four NS board members at the company's 2025 annual meeting. Under the agreement announced today, Ancora will withdraw its four proposed board members and support the board's recommendations in connection with any vote of NS shareholders, including at the 2025 annual meeting.
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Editor's Note: The railroads’ one-minute inspection rule is a blatant disregard for public safety and an insult to the workers tasked with preventing disasters. Cutting inspection times to 44 seconds per car is not efficiency—it’s recklessness. Norfolk Southern’s East Palestine catastrophe should have been a wake-up call, but instead, the industry doubles down on its profit-driven Precision Scheduled Railroading model, gambling with lives and communities.
Railroad Workers United has warned of these dangers for years, and the FRA’s findings confirm it: rail safety has been sacrificed on the altar of Wall Street greed. This is more than a labor issue—it’s a public safety crisis. If railroads refuse to act responsibly, it’s time for regulators and lawmakers to force them to put safety over profits before the next preventable disaster strikes.
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Trade Union News / November 13th, 2024
Rail unions have been raising the alarm for several years now about inspections being rushed across the industry in the wake of the railroads eliminating one-third of all the jobs as they adopted the current lean operating model that has become the standard. Railroad safety concerns became widespread last year after a Norfolk Southern train derailed, spilled hazardous chemicals, and caught fire in East Palestine, Ohio, in February. The concerns about rushed railcar inspections are part of rail labor’s broader concerns about whether the lean Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) model railroads are using is more dangerous.
The Federal Railroad Administration found earlier this year that at all the major freight railroads, carmen spent an average of 1 minute and 38 seconds looking over each car while a federal inspector was watching. But documents showed that when an inspector isn’t there, inspections were being done in about 44 seconds per car. The Transportation Communications Union which represents the carmen tasked with inspecting railcars maintains it simply isn’t possible to check the more than 90 points per side they are supposed to check on each railcar within such a short period, so clearly things are being missed.
The union’s National Legislative Director David Arouca said carmen on Norfolk Southern went “absolutely ballistic” when they saw the new one-minute rule after they have been raising concerns about the perils of rushed inspections for years. “You can’t place your eyeballs on 90 points of inspection in 30 seconds (per side) and do that repeatedly for 50-100 cars in a row and not miss things,” Arouca said.
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Progressive Railroading / November 14th, 2024
U.S. freight-rail traffic climbed 4.5% to 519,115 carloads and intermodal units in the week ending Nov. 9 compared with the same week in 2023, according to Association of American Railroads data.
The railroads hauled 224,722 carloads in the week, a 3.7% decrease, and 294,393 containers and trailers, an 11.7% increase. Six of the 10 carload commodities that AAR tracks every week logged an increase. The gainers included farm products excluding grain, and food, up 9.9% to 18,452 carloads; chemicals, up 4.1% to 31,935; and petroleum and petroleum products, up 9.7% to 11,084. Commodity groups that posted decreases included coal, down 14.5% to 58,809; nonmetallic minerals, down 6.8% to 29,186; and motor vehicles and parts, down 7.7% to 15,276.
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Editor's Note: Brightline’s attempt to dodge union accountability under the Railway Labor Act is as shameless as it is predictable. This ruling is a victory for Onboard Service Workers, who deserve a voice in the workplace, especially given Brightline’s draconian attendance policies and reckless disregard for worker safety after train-vehicle collisions. Yet, Brightline’s actions highlight a deeper issue: a leadership culture more focused on avoiding responsibility than ensuring the safety and well-being of its workforce.
Let this serve as a warning to Brightline West—this kind of anti-worker playbook won’t fly out west, where railroads must contend with stronger labor movements and increasing public scrutiny. If Brightline’s leadership can’t handle basic worker protections, they have no business expanding operations. Rail safety and public safety are non-negotiable, and no shiny branding or federal grant money should shield them from accountability. It’s time for Brightline to act like a real railroad—and that starts with respecting its workers.
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Transport Workers Union / November 12th, 2024
The Transport Workers Union of America won a significant victory on Tuesday over Brightline’s attempt to delay a union election for Onboard Service Workers at the Florida railroad. The TWU’s arguments stating that Brightline is a railroad and subject to the Railway Labor Act to form a union were upheld in a National Mediation Board ruling released Tuesday. The NMB authorized an upcoming election and determined that Brightline’s pursuit of federal grant money for railroad infrastructure improvements means that Brightline is subject to the Railway Labor Act.
“This is a major victory for Onboard Service Workers who want a voice at the table,” said TWU International President John Samuelsen. “The NMB correctly ruled that Brightline IS a railroad and MUST move forward with an election. Brightline’s draconian attendance policies and lack of support for workers facing safety issues when a train collides with a vehicle are evidence that collective power in the workplace is essential. An election must take place as quickly as possible. Brightline will also have a better shot at securing federal grant money in Washington with the TWU’s help.”
The NMB ruling comes after elected officials from Florida voiced support for workers organizing with the TWU and wrote they “publicly support the right and ability to organize with the National Mediation Board as intended under the Railway Labor Act.” Brightline also failed to secure critical federal railroad infrastructure grants in recent weeks after the TWU argued Brightline should not receive the money if it contests that it is a railroad subject to NMB jurisdiction. Tuesday’s ruling means that the National Mediation Board, an independent agency that coordinates labor relations with railroads and airlines, has directed an election. The NMB’s ruling is final and cannot be appealed.
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Progressive Railroading / November 15th, 2024
The Federal Railroad Administration today announced it will award $1.5 billion in funding for 19 projects designed to improve passenger rail along the Northeast Corridor (NEC). Awarded through the FRA’s Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Program, the funding builds on more than $16.4 billion in Fed-State NEC grants announced in 2023 for projects along the corridor, such as the Gateway Program Hudson River Tunnel project in New York and New Jersey, Susquehanna River Bridge replacement program in Maryland, Walk Bridge replacement in Connecticut, and New York Penn Station access project — all of which have begun construction activities.
Projects in this round of selections will replace aging catenary structures susceptible to failures that contribute to travel delays; improve several signal systems necessary to increase capacity, operating speeds and safety; and support planning activities to expand Washington Union Station in Washington, D.C.
Combined with other projects selected through Fed-State NEC and funded under the Biden-Harris administration to upgrade NEC tunnels, bridges and tracks, the improvements announced today will help minimize disruptions and delays and allow for increased speeds for travelers and commuters, FRA officials said in a press release.
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Progressive Railroading / November 11th, 2024
The California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) and Secretary Toks Omishakin recently issued a letter to Southern California transportation agencies in which he committed to conducting a study to plan for future investments on the Los Angeles–San Diego–San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) rail corridor.
The critical transportation corridor serves millions of passengers annually and is in need of short-term stabilization efforts and long-term solutions, according to a press release issued by the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), one of the transit agencies that operates on the corridor. Omishakin said that the state will commit to addressing immediate issues while also developing permanent solutions, including potential rail relocations in Orange and San Diego counties.
CalSTA will coordinate with the Federal Railroad Administration and regional partners to streamline project timelines and permitting processes, according to the press release. Partners on the study include OCTA, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, North County Transit District, Riverside County Transportation Commission, Southern California Association of Governments and San Diego Association of Governments.
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Editor's Note: Public Rail Now is cutting through the noise, seeking unfiltered stories from the people who live and breathe the railroad grind. For too long, rail labor’s struggles have been overshadowed by railfan nostalgia and corporate spin. This is a chance for railroaders to share what it’s really like—no sugarcoating, no glorification. It’s about time someone gave a platform to the workers who keep the economy moving while bearing the brunt of an industry that’s increasingly stacked against them. Change starts with truth, and it’s clear Public Rail Now is ready to listen. | |
Public Rail Now / November 12th, 2024
Public Rail Now would like to interview railroaders “straight from the source.” You can remain anonymous; we just want to hear about your struggles in the industry and give voice to your struggles.
We are aware that your work is challenging and getting harder every day. Tell us how fucked it is out there.
Why are we asking? When we do interviews, we want to share what you’ve gone through. The life of a railroader seems all too often to be glorified by railfans who underestimate the dangerous work railroaders do. We hope that our work educating the need for a rail system that operates in the interest of the public elevates how essential your work is to the economy. Please feel free to forward this email and our survey to other railroad workers you know. We look forward to hearing from you!
Public Rail Now
Adam, Maddock, and Tabitha
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High Speed Rail Alliance / November 13th, 2024
When: Tuesday, January 7, 2025 @ 12:00 PM
Where: Maggiano's Little Italy, 516 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60654
Our keynote speaker will be Naohisa Kitada, the General Manager of the Central Japan Railway Company's office in Washington, DC.
Japan led the world in 1964 by introducing a transformational technology: its Shinkansen bullet trains. In six decades since then, Japan's high-speed rail network has carried more than six billion passengers, with an unparalleled record for safety and efficiency.
With technology like the Shinkansen, a high-speed rail hub in Chicago could connect more than 40 million people throughout the Midwest, within hours. Chicago Union Station would also serve as the center of a nationwide network of high-speed trains.
As the Illinois High-Speed Railway Commission studies options for fast new service between Chicago and St. Louis, and as Springfield prepares to address challenges for Metra and other transit agencies, what can we learn from the Japanese experience?
This event will be held in person only. However, the Alliance conducts free online events throughout the year. HSRail.org/Events has information about upcoming events and recordings of previous talks.
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NEWS FROM AROUND THE LABOR MOVEMENT | |
Each week, RWU includes a few articles about advances and developments in the larger labor movement that are of interest to railroad workers. Got an artcile to submit for possible inclusion next week? Email it along to raillabornews@gmail.com. Thank you! | |
In These Times / November 11th, 2024
“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working-class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement following Donald Trump’s decisive defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris in last week’s presidential election.
Several top Democrats and liberal pundits strongly objected to Sanders’s assessment, calling it “straight-up BS,” “bizarre,” “ridiculous,” and “incorrect.” Echoing a familiar Democratic talking point, they argue that far from abandoning working-class people, President Joe Biden — with Harris at his side — did more to help them than any president in history. Workers who did not reward Harris with their votes, some of these politicos suggest, are ingrates who “hated” Biden despite all he did for them “because eggs cost more.”
Other Democrats attribute Trump’s victory not to any economic issues, but to a hopelessly racist and sexist electorate. On Tuesday night, MSNBC’s Joy Reid claimed Harris ran a “flawless campaign,” while consultant Shannon Watts posted on social media, “Kamala Harris was not a flawed candidate. America is a flawed country.”
The U.S. working class is heterogeneous, stratified, and largely disorganized, making it easy for fascists like Trump to undermine class solidarity by turning certain workers (especially men and white people) against others.
But in down-ballot races last Tuesday, progressive and socialist candidates (including several women of color) and pro-worker ballot measures consistently outperformed Harris. In contrast, at least several million people who voted for Biden and Harris in 2020 didn’t vote in this presidential race — indicating that the problem is not quite as simple as bigoted voters who don’t understand their economic interests.
It is downright anti-democratic to suggest that millions of people who live paycheck to paycheck are irredeemable, ignorant ghouls while simultaneously refusing to criticize party leaders, rich donors, consultancy firms, and allied pundits. Writing off the vast majority of the electorate is not only an unserious and self-defeating response to the ongoing rise of fascism, it is also what got us to this point in the first place.
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UnionBase.Org / November 14th, 2024
In the wake of the 2024 Presidential election, the regulatory environment and governmental organizations including the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) are likely to be weakened if not dismantled in the next four years. For those reasons, the American labor movement should focus on preparing for an offensive agenda, strategy, and tactics. The Biden administration's pro-labor stance has contributed to an uptick in union activity across sectors including strikes by 75,000 members of The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions (CKPU), 50,000 members of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) at the East and Gulf Coast ports and 33,000 members of the International Association of Machinists at Boeing to name a few.
Although union activity has gained significant momentum in terms of strikes and organizing, overall representation numbers continue to decline. Amidst the historically high approval rate for unions, a mere 10.3% of the overall U.S. workforce is a member of a union. This imbalance underscores the headwinds unions face, the weakness of our organizing infrastructure, and the urgency we should feel to advance the relevancy of the union movement.
Therefore, our most urgent priorities must be intensifying organizing drives in both traditional and emerging industries, holding Democratic and Republican politicians accountable for pro-labor policies, and modernizing union strategies to engage younger workers. Unions are doing the first well, but badly failing at the latter two. Our winning aspiration and target for the next two to four years must be to restore private-sector union density from 6% to 8.1%, echoing levels last seen in 2003, by passing the PRO Act or similar legislation. Secondly, we must revive public sector organizing by changing laws in the states hardest hit by anti-union legislation including Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana. We must also organize in the heart of the South in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia.
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Assembly Magazine / November 14th, 2024
UAW Family,
Last week, the American people decided to give Donald Trump another term as President of the United States. In a democracy, the four most important words are: The People Have Spoken.
And while it’s not the outcome our union advocated for, and it’s not the outcome a majority of our members voted for, our mission remains the same. We must raise the standard of living for our members and the entire working class through unity, solidarity, and working-class power. No matter who is in the White House.
Going into this election, we heard from our CAP Councils, polled our membership, and looked at the records of the two candidates, and the choice was clear. A majority of UAW members were supporting Biden, and then Harris, and a majority voted accordingly.
But for us, this was never about party or personality. As we have said consistently, both parties share blame for the one-sided class war that corporate America has waged on our union, and on working-class Americans for decades.
And we stand today where we stood last week.
We stand for bringing back American jobs.
We stand for renegotiating the broken USMCA trade deal.
We stand for taking on corporations that break their promises to American workers.
And we stand against the same things we’ve always stood against.
We will never support the destruction of the union movement.
We will never support efforts to divide and conquer the working class by nationality, race, and gender.
We will never support handouts to the ultra-wealthy or paying for it by cutting crucial federal investments.
We are unafraid to confront any politician who takes actions that harm the working class, our communities and our unions.
But the UAW will also work with any politician, regardless of party, who stands with the working class.
So, our mission now is to keep our issues on the table.
Our mission is to be loud and clear about where we stand.
Our mission is to stop plant closures and the mass exodus of jobs to low-wage, high-exploitation countries.
Our mission is to stop the race to the bottom as blue-collar jobs are liquidated in service of Wall Street paydays.
Our mission is to ensure a secure retirement, a living wage, adequate healthcare, and work-life balance for every one of our members, and every member of the working class.
Today, our members clock in to the same jobs they clocked into last week. You face the same threats – corporate greed, Wall Street predators, and a political system that ignores us. And we are driven by the same force, as outlined in our UAW Constitution generations ago: “the hope of the worker in advancing society toward the ultimate goal of social and economic justice.”
No matter how you voted, or how you’re feeling about the results, I encourage each and every one of you to get involved. Our UAW Constitution provides for a CAP rep at every plant, CAP Councils in every region, and implores every UAW member to participate in the political process.
And that process does not begin or end with the presidential election. Political action on every level of government, in every state, in every sector has an impact on every contract, every organizing drive, and every standard we win as a union.
This union belongs to you, and we want you to get involved today.
In solidarity,
UAW President Shawn Fain
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WEEKLY DERAILMENT DEPARTMENT | |
Each Tuesday in this news bulletin, RWU does our best to present a picture of what has been happening over the course of the previous week in terms of derailments in North America, and investigation determinations of previous accidents. NOTE: This list is by no means comprehensive. Smaller and less consequential mishaps are generally not reported here. If the wreck results in injury or fatality, or is especially damaging/extreme, a full article will appear as a feature in the dozen or so rail articles above. Know of a train wreck? Please feel free to forward a link to raillabornews@gmail.com for possible inclusion next week. Thanks! |
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