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rail unions
The Rail Unions Warned Us: Greed Is Dangerous
Following multiple, dangerous derailments across the country, those working the railroad have a solution to the nation's rail crisis: public ownership.
Feb 20, 2023
The toxic clouds that billowed up from a derailed freight train in Ohio earlier this month are a chilling metaphor for the toxic greed that has infected so many of our big corporations.
After having to evacuate, residents of the town near the derailment are cautiously going back home, but they still don’t know the full extent of the damage to the area’s environment and public health.
The Norfolk Southern train was carrying dangerous chemicals, including vinyl chloride, a highly flammable carcinogen that is more harmful than even ammonia and natural gas, according to federal regulations.
Following the derailment, locals have reported evidence of the sudden death of fish and wildlife, in addition to people having difficulty breathing, numb limbs, and rashes, among other possible physical symptoms from the chemical exposure.
Unions representing rail workers had warned of the possibility of just such a catastrophe.
In contract negotiations last year, they denounced a business model known as “precision scheduled railroading,” which aims to boost profits by running bigger and faster trains with smaller crews. The practice has even earned a nickname among rail workers: “positive shareholder reaction.” Combined with a lack of guaranteed sick pay, this created dangerous conditions for overworked rail employees.
Where have all the profits gone?
Over the last three years, CEOs at five of the largest railroad conglomerates raked in a staggering $200 million in compensation. Norfolk Southern and the six other largest U.S. freight railroad companies also spent $191 billion on stock buybacks and shareholder dividends between 2011 and 2021, making their wealthy executives and investors even richer.
And while railroad execs lined their own pockets, their lobbyists advocated against stricter safety rules. In 2017, after rail industry donors gave Republicans federal regulators killed provisions requiring rail cars carrying hazardous materials to have more sophisticated, faster braking systems.
This profit-driven approach is clearly putting workers and communities at high risk. In fact, the Ohio accident wasn’t even the only one this month. Days later in Houston, Texas, another train carrying hazardous materials derailed, killing the driver. Days after that incident, another Norfolk Southern train derailed, this time in southeastern Michigan.
Those working the railroad have a simple solution to this public threat: public ownership. Railroad Workers United, which brings together members from 12 rail unions, has called for an end to private corporate ownership of the U.S. rail system, as well as the integrated systems in Mexico and Canada.
The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) has also called for public ownership, writing: “The railroad companies cannot even be said to be in the business of moving freight; they are merely in the business of using their monopoly control over the nation’s rail infrastructure to squeeze as much profit as possible from customers and workers at the behest of their Wall Street shareholders.”
The Ohio tragedy is a huge, fiery alarm bell. We should no longer tolerate the risk of having greedy corporate executives run us off the rails. Through public ownership, this vital infrastructure could truly serve the public good.
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The Rail Strike Was Averted For Now, But Employers Take Notice
Like so many other industries, the underlying railroad problem has boiled down to soaring demand and unmitigated corporate greed.
Sep 16, 2022
A nationwide rail strike has been averted for now. A new agreement grants railroad workers an additional paid day off and the ability to attend medical appointments without penalty. (The agreement now must be ratified by the workers.)
A strike could have crippled the economy at a particularly vulnerable moment.
A strike could have shut down nearly a third of the country's freight and about half of commuter rail systems (which run at least partially on tracks or rights of way owned by freight railroads).
In other words, a strike could have crippled the economy at a particularly vulnerable moment, when inflation is still soaring. And a strike would come at an especially awkward political moment, less than two months before the midterm elections.
What can we learn from this near economic disaster? Unlike most management-labor impasses, this one wasn't solely around wages. It was also around sick time and penalties for missing work.
Like so many workers deemed "essential" during the pandemic, the engineers and conductors who drive the nation's freight trains have been fed up. Their work schedules are unpredictable and inflexible. They've been penalized for taking days off when they're sick or tending to a family emergency.
Like most of us, they want a better quality of life--and they feel, with justification, that they deserve it.
The railroads have agreed to a 24 percent increase in wages. Good, but they should have agreed long before this.
Twenty years ago, the four leading American freight carriers--SX, KC Southern, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific--earned average operating margins of about 15 percent. Now, their margins are closer to 40 percent. Twenty years ago, the four railroads spent some $8.7 billion on worker compensation and benefits to generate $25.6 billion. Twenty years later, they spent about 10 percent more on worker compensation and labor--but their revenue has nearly doubled.
Until last night, railroad executives had refused to budge on a workplace attendance policy that can only be described as draconian. Railroad conductors and engineers were continuously on call (outside of paid vacation and personal leave days based on seniority). When told to report to work, they were given just 90 minutes to two hours.
Like many employers across America--hospital executives, school systems, Amazon and Starbucks--railroad management didn't get it. They didn't understand the importance to working people of having some control over when and how they work.
And like so many other industries, the underlying railroad problem has boiled down to soaring demand and unmitigated corporate greed.
Since the pandemic, cargo volumes have soared to record highs. But over the last six years, freight railroads have pared back their workforce by about 30 percent to reduce costs and increase profits.
They've also been running fewer and longer trains, and waiting until trains are full before leaving terminals.
As a result, the railroads have demanded that their workers put in more hours, but given them almost no notice of when.
Hopefully, now, we'll avoid a railroad strike. Congratulations to the Biden administration for helping broker this agreement.
But let's make sure the lesson here is learned, not just by rail management but across the nation in every industry: Workers need and deserve higher wages and better working conditions--which includes more control over their jobs.
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Rail Unions Stress Tentative Deal Must Still Win Approval From Rank-and-File
Early reactions suggest some rail workers are furious at the agreement, with one anonymous employee calling it "garbage" that "everyone hates" thus far.
Sep 15, 2022
Two unions representing 125,000 active and retired rail employees stressed Thursday that the tentative agreement they reached with freight carriers to avert a strike still must win approval from rank-and-file members, a reminder that came as the White House hailed the deal it helped broker as a victory for workers and the economy.
"This contract will not become final until our members have an opportunity to review its terms and approve it through a ratification vote," said Jeremy Ferguson, president of SMART Transportation Division, and Dennis Pierce, head of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET).
"It's a garbage deal. Everyone hates it so far. It does nothing for me. I'll vote no. This has been a complete waste of time."
BLET and SMART-TD represent roughly half of the railroad workers that would be covered by the new agreement.
The unions, which had been preparing to strike as soon as Friday as rail giants refused to budge on workers' basic sick leave demands, said the tentative deal includes "an immediate wage increase of 14% once compounded with an additional 4% on July 1, 2023, and 4.5% on July 1, 2024."
"In addition, wage increases of 3% effective July 1, 2020, 3.5% effective July 1, 2021, and 7% effective July 1, 2022, will be fully retroactive, for a compounded increase of 24% over the 5-year term of the agreement," Ferguson and Pierce said. "The agreement also includes annual lump-sum bonus payments totaling $5,000."
Additionally, they noted, the agreement includes provisions that "will create voluntary assigned days off for members working in thru freight service, and all members will receive one additional paid day off."
"Most importantly, for the first time ever, the agreement provides our members with the ability to take time away from work to attend to routine and preventive medical care, as well as exemptions from attendance policies for hospitalizations and surgical procedures," Ferguson and Pierce added, pointing to a central demand of rail workers who for years have been laboring under a scheduling system that punishes employees for taking time off to see the doctor.
The union leaders said they also succeeded in fighting off rail carriers' efforts to impose higher healthcare costs and other damaging provisions.
Overall, the union leaders said they secured a deal that "exceeded the recommendations of the Presidential Emergency Board," a body formed by President Joe Biden that suggested a compromise agreement that excluded any sick leave--angering workers and heightening the likelihood of a national strike.
A recent SMART-TD survey of its members showed that 78% opposed the emergency board's recommended agreement.
Now the key question is whether the tentative deal announced Thursday is enough of an improvement over the presidential board's proposal to win approval from the rank-and-file.
Early reactions suggest that some union members are furious with the newly released agreement and plan to oppose its ratification. The Washington Post's Lauren Kaori Gurley observed that responses from rail workers have been a mixture of "optimism and deep skepticism."
One unnamed rail worker bluntly told Jonah Furman of Labor Notes that "it's a garbage deal."
"Everyone hates it so far," the worker added. "It does nothing for me. I'll vote no. This has been a complete waste of time."
Furman also pointed to social media posts indicating worker opposition to the deal and continued support for a national rail strike:
In a speech outside the White House on Thursday, Biden touted the tentative agreement as a "great deal for both sides" that "will keep our critical rail system working."
Following the president's remarks, a reporter shouted out, "Mr. President, is it premature to celebrate before the unions vote?"
Biden didn't respond.
NBC News reported Thursday that "as part of the agreement reached last night, there will be a 'cooling off' period of several weeks to ensure that if a vote doesn't succeed for any reason, there still would not be an immediate rail shutdown."
During the coronavirus pandemic, major U.S. railroads have raked in record profits on the backs of their employees, who have been working without a contract for three years due to management's refusal to offer even minimal sick leave benefits.
On Wednesday, Republican senators attempted to pass legislation that would have forced rail workers to accept the woefully inadequate proposal put forth by the Presidential Emergency Board. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) blocked the bill.
"Last year, the CEO of CSX made over $20 million in total compensation, while the CEOs of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern made over $14 million each in total compensation," Sanders said in a speech on the Senate floor. "In other words, within the rail industry corporate profits are soaring and the CEOs are making incredibly large compensation packages."
"I would also add that the parent company of BNSF, one of the largest freight rail companies in America, is Berkshire Hathaway owned by Warren Buffett," the senator continued. "Mr. Buffett is the fourth wealthiest man in America worth nearly $100 billion. During the pandemic, as rail workers risked their lives to keep the economy going, Mr. Buffett became $33 billion richer."
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