All railroad workers need to be concerned and take necessary precautions to protect yourself and your job. The past few weeks have been difficult and confusing ones, and the coming ones promise to be even more so.
As the world, the nation, the rail carriers and our unions grapple with the question of the escalating pandemic, railroad workers cannot sit on our hands and simply wait for the authorities to take action.
Many of us in the rail industry work irregular schedules at all hours, sleep when we can between work assignments in public facilities, and often go without regular meals or nutritious food. When we need to mark off sick, we are threatened with discipline. The major carriers' attendance policies have long been barbaric prior to the current crisis. And most T&E workers have no paid sick leave. This is a deadly combination under routine conditions. Given the current pandemic, the carriers' policies and procedures need to be exposed for what they are: unsafe, unhealthy, dangerous, hypocritical, disrespectful, and outrageous!
Please read over the worker oriented articles below to get a better sense of what is going on globally, nationally, in the transportation sector, and on the railroad specifically.
