Weekly Digest Number 37 - September 12th, 2023

Editor's Note: Just as nearly 100% of locomotive engineers voted to strike last year in master freight contract negotiations, the engineers at NJT have done likewise. They join the ranks for Longshore workers, Teamsters, Auto workers and others who likewise have voted overwhelmingly to strike in the past year. Like all of them, NJT hogheads have had enough!

BLET engineers unanimously endorse strike at NJ Transit

Progressive Railroading

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) members who work at New Jersey Transit last week voted unanimously to authorize a strike. Five hundred locomotive engineers employed by NJ Transit received strike ballots in August. Voting results show 81% of the eligible 494 union members cast ballots and all of them favor a strike, BLET officials said in a press release.

Local 583 member John Thornton killed when crew van hit by suspected DUI driver

SMART Transportation Division Local 583 (Fond du Lac, Wis.) suffered a tragic loss prior to the Labor Day weekend when member John A. Thornton was killed Aug. 31 after a suspected drunken driver smashed into his transport vehicle in Matteson, Ill., while en route to work. Brother Thornton, 48, was a conductor for Canadian National (CN) and a member of our union for nearly two decades, joining in November 2005

Editor's Note: The employees charged are not the ones that created the situation for this to happen. Authorities need to assign responsibility up the management chain to change policy. Similar cost-cutting forces are at play in Italy just as in the tragedies that came before this one in India and Greece.

Investigation into Italian rail worker deaths reveals ignored warnings, 2 persons prosecuted for homicide

Author: Esther Geerts

In the days following the disastrous accident in Italy where five contracted railway workers were killed by an empty train, more and more details of the investigation come out, and point to severe compliance with safety measures by people involved with managing the track replacement works. Both an employee of infrastructure manager RFI and a foreman of contractor Sigifer are being prosecuted for multiple homicides. 

Editor's Note: When the spotlight was on them after the East Palestine wreck, the Class One carriers lined up to agree to take part in "close-call reporting" like the airline industry. Now all six Class Ones have all backed away.

When Will Class I’s Fulfill Their C3RS Commitment?

Written by William C. Keppen, Jr.



Are Class I railroads, through the AAR, raising a plausible defense for not participating in close call reporting? After the East Palestine derailment, all the Class I’s committed to participate in the current, NASA-run close call reporting program. The U.S. Department of Transportation, its employees and the American public are anxiously awaiting fulfillment of that commitment.

Editor's Note: While the rail safety bill before Congress is riddled with loopholes and fails to address many of our major concerns as railroaders, it has the potential to make for a safer railroad than what we have now.

Rail cutbacks threaten communities and cities in ways that could be ‘catastrophic’; officials urge passing of safety bill

by Steve Mellon September 10, 2023

Working as a rail car inspector for Norfolk Southern is a tough gig these days, especially for those who must travel near East Palestine, Ohio. A number of folks there remain angry over Norfolk Southern’s treatment of residents who continue to suffer from the effects of a Feb. 3 derailment that spewed toxins over the community.

“We work just like you do,” said Dennis Sabina, president of Transit Workers Union Local 2035 and a Norfolk Southern carman. “We need paychecks just like everybody else. The guys you should be mad at are in suits and ties on Wall Street, not the workers.”

Editor's Note: Since the Class One carriers are against it, "reciprocal switching" must be a good thing. While it may help shippers and even rail workers, it is not a total solution to the problem of Class One monopoly, increasing freight rates, and porr service.

A Potential End to Monopolizing the Rails

BY LUKE GOLDSTEIN SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

After the disastrous Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, in February, a bipartisan rail safety bill gained momentum among Rust Belt senators. But between insistent corporate lobbying, resistance from small-government Republicans (perhaps intended to deny Brown a signature win going into a tough re-election campaign), and the difficulties of bipartisan cooperation in a divided moment, negotiations over the bill now appear to be all but dead.

Editor's Note: Dozens of passenger rail routes of currently under study to be resurrected and revitalized across the country. A rail renaissance is possible but rail workers and our unions must unite with passenger rail advocates, environmentalists, communities, and transportation justice folks and work closely together to make this happen.

Utah exploring possible options for train between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas

By: Spencer Burt Sep 05, 2023

An alternative and possibly more convenient form of travel between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas could be in the future.

Editor's Note: Trains "buried the lede" here. The derailment seems minor compared to the rupturing of an adjacent gas line. Rail rights-of-way can be safe, vetted energy corridors but only if utilities are properly shielded.

Norfolk Southern fined for 2019 Georgia spill

Trains Magazine Sept 7th

Norfolk Southern has been fined $77,640 for violations of the Clean Water Act and other regulations stemming from an Oct. 9, 2019, derailment near Kathleen, GA. In the derailment, a natural gas pipeline was also ruptured triggering the release of 2.3 million cubic feet of natural gas into the atmosphere, states the FRA report on the incident. No evacuation was need, but cleanup was delayed until the pipeline could be secured.

Editor's Note: Creation of such an office was mandated by the Recovery Act. It could be a huge resource if the major players (Class Is, trucking companies, etc.) buy in, or useless if they don't.

Major transportation stakeholders urge USDOT to create national freight office

Progressive Railroading

Sixteen U.S. transportation industry stakeholders recently teamed up to send a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to urge the establishment of an Office of Multimodal Freight Infrastructure and Policy within the U.S. Department of Transportation. A national freight office would serve as an important tool to help coordinate activities across the federal government and provide senior-level leadership to guide federal decision-making regarding supply-chain competitiveness, security and fluidity, the letter signers believe.

Editor's Note: Like in every state, early railroad workers in Nevada suffered an extremely high injury and fatality rate in the early days, one of the reasons rail workers were some of the first industrial workers to organize into unions.

Behind Nevada’s rail revival, a long history of dangerous work, hard-won labor protections

Carly Sauvagea, Naoka Foreman Sept 4th

Federal investments could spur new train projects, but it all builds on the work of a diverse group of laborers who endured backbreaking, sometimes fatal jobs. "You came in, you did the job, and if you were injured or killed, they simply went and found someone else to replace you … 

Editor's Note: Coal dust has been an issue since the early days of rail. It poisons humans and can foul ballast. Every loaded coal car releases hundreds of pounds of dust during a given train trip. One more reason why coal is in inevitable decline.

Scientists are using AI to track coal train dust

EMMA FOEHRINGER MERCHANT / SEP 2, 2023

The team’s data showed that, as they passed, trains full of coal traveling through the city significantly increased ambient PM2.5, a type of particulate matter that has been linked to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, along with early death. That... is particularly relevant in nearby Oakland, which has debated a proposed coal export terminal for nearly a decade.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE LABOR MOVEMENT

Editor's Note: While most unions are ostensibly democratic, voiced for change can often be stifled. Sometimes it takes groups of union members to come together as a "caucus" to effect change. Attend this invaluable workshop and learn the nuts and bolts of how you can get involved in your union, join with like minded fellow workers, and fight for the changes you want to see!

Caucus How-To (September 2023)

Labor Notes

At Labor Notes we often hear from frustrated members of unions that have nothing like a contract campaign—members play no role in setting the agenda or building the momentum to win. Union leaders agree not to “bargain in the press,” squandering any chance to attract public sympathy. Sometimes the rank and file doesn’t even hear what’s going on until a deal is done. If this sounds familiar to all of you railroad workers, please attend this important workshop!

Editor's Note: This Report makes it clear that unions do not just benefit their own members, but the broader working class, society, the economy and the nation as a whole. Time to organize!

FACT SHEET: Treasury Department Releases First-Of-Its-Kind Report on Benefits of Unions to the U.S. Economy

U.S. Department of the Treasury

A first-of-its-kind report from the U.S. Treasury on the benefits of unions to the American economy. Some awesome (and previously unheard of) pro-union news from the federal government!

Editor's Note: Workers have a great opportunity to organize into unions. For those of us fortunate to already be union, let's assist our fellow workers get organized!

A Labor Day Like No Other

September 4, 2023 Harold Meyerson



Labor Day 2023 isn’t like Labor Day 2022. It isn’t like any Labor Day of the past half-century. The reason is simple: Labor law has changed. Two Fridays ago, the National Labor Relations Board restored a good deal of labor law to its original purpose of enabling workers to bargain collectively for better pay and working conditions.

It's A Bad Time To Be A Union Buster

ROBYN PENNACCHIA SEP 7, 2023

On Wednesday, the US Senate voted 51-48 to confirm a second term for Gwynne Wilcox on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). This means that the NLRB will be able to continue on its merry way, finding in favor of workers over their union-busting employers.