Rail Workers Weekly News Digest
Number 1 - January 7th, 2020
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Below is a series of articles compiled over the previous week.
They are of interest to railroad workers.
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Article 1 -
PSR NEWS
Railroads are slashing workers, cheered on by Wall Street to stay profitable amid Trump’s trade war
ROANOKE — Jeff Hollandsworth was told to do something recently that he had never done before in his many years working for Norfolk Southern Railway: Empty lockers.
Norfolk Southern has let more than 3,500 employees go in the past year, including 175 in Roanoke, part of an aggressive push across the railroad industry to slash costs.
As Hollandsworth cut the locks and removed his former co-workers’s coats, hats, power tools and hefty company rule books, he couldn’t shake the feeling that the layoffs were different this time. Unlike in the past, his colleagues probably won’t be coming back.
“When you go to work now, it’s like going into a funeral home,” Hollandsworth said. “What three people used to do, one person is doing now.”
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Article 2 -
WRECK NEWS
Train Derailment in Eastern Iowa Leaves Mess, Slows Traffic
(Editors Note: After experiencing a major derailment at the rate of nearly one per week in 2019, it looks like the Class One railroads are set for another cataclysmic year).
LECLAIRE, Iowa (AP) — A train derailment Friday morning sent more than a dozen rail cars and tankers off the tracks in the eastern Iowa city of LeClaire, shutting down a nearby highway and sending a hazardous materials team scrambling to the downtown district site.
The derailment happened a couple of hundred feet from the banks of the Mississippi River, along U.S. Highway 67, which runs parallel to the tracks. LeClaire police closed the highway in both directions shortly after the derailment and told the public to avoid the area.
The derailment involved a Canadian Pacific Railroad train, Scott County Emergency Management planner Brian Payne said. A hazmat team was sent to the scene, but no injuries were reported, he added.
LeClaire Assistant Fire Chief Kent Amerine told the Quad-City Times that a substance was leaking from one of the tankers at the scene. Payne's office later said a chemical leak was discovered.
“It did flow into a kind of natural dike formed when the tankers derailed, and the substance did not spread,” Amerine said, adding that there's no additional threat to the environment or to people.
Officials have not said what chemical spilled.
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Article 3 -
PSR NEWS
Rail Employment Hits New Low in November
Not only was this the lowest point for 2019, it was the lowest point during the last five years. The November numbers revealed that workers in train and engine service dropped 13.7%, while those in equipment maintenance and stores dropped 15%.
Rail analyst Bascome Majors said that “headcount within the volume-sensitive transportation [and engine crew] segment fell 13.7% y/y, marking the seventh straight month of declines and the greatest reduction in over three years, as persistent volume weakness and PSR-releated efficiencies continue to drive down the T&E headcount needs.”
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Article 4 -
RAIL CROSSINGS
Lawmaker wants rail companies fined if they don't provide advance notice of blocked crossings
HAMMOND — State Rep. Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond, believes more must be done to minimize the number of Northwest Indiana road-rail intersections routinely blocked by stopped trains.
That's why the first-term lawmaker is proposing again legislation to mandate rail companies provide county sheriffs with advance notice when they intend to block a street crossing.
House Bill 1033, set to be filed when the Indiana House convenes its annual session Monday, would impose a $200 fine on railroads that fail to advise the sheriff each time a train, rail car or engine will obstruct public travel at a grade crossing for more than 10 minutes.
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Article 5 -
PSR NEWS
‘Union Pacific is railroading the community,’ union leader says after jobs cuts at Armourdale Yard
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Union Pacific is cutting jobs at the Armourdale Yard in KCK, less than three months after employees were laid off at its Neff Yard on the other side of the state line.
“Union Pacific today reduced operations in its Armourdale Yard in Kansas City, Kansas. Work performed at Armourdale will be shifted to Union Pacific’s 18th St. Yard,” company spokesman Tim McMahan confirmed.
Back in October, about 200 workers lost their jobs at the rail company’s Neff Yard in Kansas City’s Old Northeast neighborhood. McMahan said Armourdale Yard would remain open but wasn’t able to provide details on how many workers, if any, would remain employed there.
But a union leader representing local Union Pacific employees said the yard is being shut down.
“This morning, I received a phone call, about 7 a.m., from my officers at the local there in Kansas City. A bulletin was posted in the Armourdale Yard office saying that after today the yard would be closed and the jobs would be abolished,” said Ty Dragoo, the Kansas Legislative Director for transportation union SMART.
Dragoo estimates that at least 20 people will lose their job, but it could be as many as 100.
“We were told these yard jobs would be absorbed in Armourdale on 18th Street, but we don’t know. We’re looking at anywhere between 20 and 100 jobs,” he said.
“Union Pacific is railroading the community and Union Pacific is railroading taxpayers,” Dragoo said. “Kansas City has always been a railroading community, and I think it’s time that we as a society, we go to our elected officials and we say, ‘Are we going to keep incentivizing Union Pacific, which is making a billion dollars a quarter in profit? Are we going to keep giving them our tax dollars if they keep doing this to our friends and our neighbors?'”.
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Article 6 -
LABOR MOVEMENT
2019 Year in Review: Workers Strike Back
Labor is going into a new decade weaker than it’s been in nearly a century. But the year was a promising one for those looking for sparks from the US working class — and hoping the new decade can stoke those sparks into a flame.
But workers across the country rose to the occasion, making 2019 one of the most exciting years for the labor movement in recent memory.
In terms of the number of workers who went on strike, 2019 is on pace to match 2018. Teachers again made a huge showing — this time leading in big, heavily unionized school districts. United Teachers Los Angeles
kicked it off in January
with a seven-day walkout in the country’s second-largest school district.
Union reformers built that strike
, which drew huge crowds of supporters to rally against privatization. The Union Power caucus won leadership of the local in 2014, pledging to team up with parents to demand better staffing and quality schools, not just the wage increase that the previous administration had emphasized.
Denver teachers grabbed the baton in February
, striking for three days and winning reforms to a convoluted pay system. Strike leader Tiffany Choi was
later voted in
as union president on a program of democratizing the union, strengthening community support, and taking on the billionaire-backed “education reformers.”
Continuing their 2018 struggle,
West Virginia teachers struck again
for two days, defeating a bill that would have sucked funds from public schools and opened the door to privatization. Teachers saw the bill as legislative retaliation for their strike last spring.
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Article 7 -
REGULATIONS
Dept of Transportation Proposes Changes to Rules Governing Air Brake Tests and Track Maintenance
(Editor's Note: Rail workers should read these over carefully. While the smokescreen is always that these rule changes will result in efficiencies and a safer workplace environment, we know that they are more often than not proposed by the rail industry as cost cutting measures).
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NPRM: Miscellaneous Amendments to Brake System Safety Standards and Codification of Waivers
Document Series Proposed Rule
Author Federal Railroad Administration
Subject Braking Systems
Abstract/Summary
FRA is proposing to revise its regulations governing brake inspections, tests, and equipment. The proposed changes include the incorporation of relief from various provisions provided in long-standing waivers related to single car air brake tests, end-of train devices, helper service, and brake maintenance. FRA is also proposing to extend the time that freight rail equipment can be “off-air” before requiring a new brake inspection. In addition, FRA is proposing various modifications to the existing brake related regulations for clarity and to remove outdated or unnecessary provisions.
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NPRM: Rail Integrity Amendments & Track Safety Standards
Document Series Proposed Rule
Author Federal Railroad Administration
Abstract/Summary
FRA is proposing to revise its regulations governing the minimum safety requirements for railroad track. The proposed changes include allowing inspection of rail using continuous rail testing; allowing the use of flange-bearing frogs in crossing diamonds; relaxing the guard check gage limits on heavy-point frogs used in Class 5 track; removing an inspection-method exception for high-density commuter lines; and other miscellaneous revisions.
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Article 8 -
UNION ACTION
BMWED Takes Spoiled Food Concerns to NS Corporate Headquarters
Published: Jan 7 2020 10:42AM
This morning, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way leaders and staff
flyered
the corporate offices of Norfolk Southern in both Atlanta, Ga. and Norfolk, Va. The issue is the
rotten
,
inedible food
the railroad has served its BMWED members on its Designated Production Gangs.
As the photos demonstrate, the food provided to MOW employees on the DPGs is entirely unacceptable. For months, we have attempted to rectify this unnecessary problem, only to see it temporarily fixed and then eventually reappear.
Today we spoke to Norfolk Southern CEO James Squires and other NS company officials on the steps of corporate headquarters. We obtained his assurances that the quality of the food will be permanently addressed and rectified. We will hold him to his word.
Norfolk Southern is a massively profitable railroad. Mr. Squires himself made $11.3 million in 2018. The disrespect shown BMWED members through the serving of moldy, expired food is obtuse. It must stop immediately. If not, we will be back outside his lavish office.
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