Rail & Labor News from RWU
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Weekly Digest Number 19 - May 7, 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! | |
Editor's Note: Like their U.S. counterparts, Canadian Train & Engine Service workers - along with Train Dispatchers (Directors) - overwhelmingly support strike action on the Class One carriers (CN and CPKC). It is the duty of all U.S. rails to lend these brothers and sisters the highest possible degree of support and solidarity in the coming weeks. We hope that the Canadian government and union officials do not get in the way of a determined rank & file. | |
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Trains Staff / May 1
Members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference have authorized strikes against Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City, the union has announced today (May 1). Some 93.3% of train and engine crews at CN returned ballots, with 97.6% voting in favor of a strike. At CPKC, 91.7% of train and engine crews returned ballots, with 99% authorizing a strike, while among members of the CPKC Rail Traffic Controllers unit, 96.6% returned ballots, with 95.3% in favor of a strike. A strike could come as early as May 22, following the end of a mandatory 21-day period of federal mediation that began today.
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Editor's Note: STB Chair Oberman has been very vocal in his criticism of PSR and the fetish of the Operating Ratio. Here he takes one last shot at the "activist investor" scourge that is haunting the rail industry. | |
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Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin J. Oberman on Wednesday blasted activist investor Ancora Holdings, saying that its plans for Norfolk Southern are a threat to rail service and the U.S. economy. Ancora and NS are trying to woo the railroad’s shareholders in a bitter proxy battle that will end May 9 at the NS annual meeting. “It’s not my position to urge shareholders how to vote in this election,” Oberman told the North American Rail Shippers annual conference. “It is my responsibility to call out serious threats to the national rail network. And everything about Ancora’s campaign should cause serious concerns to all rail stakeholders.”
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Editor's Note: Ron Batory - lifelong rail CEO - should be opposed by the Senate and not approved for this nomination.. The Class Ones have been the biggest impediment to Amtrak's success and expansion. No Class One CEO - let alone this one - should be approved to serve on the Amtrak Board. The Class Ones have enough power without letting the fox into the henhouse. In addition, as head of the FRA under the previous administration, Batory avidly supported single person train crews, and granted the Class Ones everything they requested in terms of suspension of a myriad of long standing safety rules during the pandemic on the grounds of (self-inflicted) staffing shortages. | |
Trains Staff / May 2
President Joe Biden will nominate former Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Ron Batory and Elaine Marie Clegg, CEO of Valley Regional Transit in Idaho’s Ada and Canyon counties, to serve on Amtrak’s Board of Directors, the White House announced today (May 2). Batory, now a resident of New Mexico, and Clegg, of Boise, Idaho, would help address the geographic requirements that have been a stumbling block in filling board vacancies Batory’s lengthy resume in the rail industry spans more than 45 years, and includes stints as president of the Belt Railway of Chicago and CEO of Conrail Shared Assets. He also recently served as the trustee of the CP-Kansas City Southern Voting Trust, overseeing KCS prior to the approval of the CPKC merger. He served as FRA administrator from February 2018 to January 2021.
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Editor's Note: The author cited here - Axel Persson - is a French train driver who spoke at the RWU Convention in Chicago just a few weeks ago. This is a great victory for the French railway workers and the French working class as a whole. Through strike action and many years and determined resistance, they were able to win. | |
Joseph F. Hancock / May 5
[We received this communication from Axel Persson, our LTI Correspondent in France and a leader of the CGT railway Union; an Affiliate of the WFTU.]
Staff on the French national railways have scored the richest prize so far as public sector unions vie to force concessions from the state by threatening strikes before the Paris Olympics. The state-owned SNCF, which employs 272,000 workers, caved in under the threat of strikes next month and granted a union demand that all by cancels out the effect of President Macron's retirement reforms of last year. Drivers, ticket inspectors, signal and station staff will be allowed to stop working 30 months before their retirement and continue receiving 75 per cent of their pay under a mechanism called "early termination of activity."
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Editor's Note: Not surprisingly, conservative pro-business politicians are calling for the nullification of the recently adopted FRA Rule on train crew staffing. Despite its endless loopholes and drawbacks, even this minor sop to rail workers and rail labor is just too much for the industry and its Congressional lackies to deal with. | |
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Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) on April 19 introduced a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval that seeks nullification of the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) final rule. Train Crew Size Safety Requirements, “establishing minimum safety requirements for the size of train crews.” Co-sponsors for this legislation (download below) include Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Rep. Randy Weber (R-Tex.) FRA on April 2 issued the rule, saying it “enhances safety in the rail industry by generally requiring and emphasizing the importance and necessity of a second crew member on all trains. A second crew member performs important safety functions that could be lost when reducing crew size to a single person. Without the final rule, railroads could initiate single-crew operations without performing a rigorous risk assessment, mitigating known risks, or even notifying FRA.
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Editor's Note: We would add that it is also an art as well as a science. Locomotive engineers run "by the seat of their pants," and after years of handling just about every sort of train under every type of condition, gain wisdom and insight into train handling that cannot be learned by a machine. There is no substitute for experience. | |
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The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there are more than 36,000 locomotive engineers in the United States. Whether it’s an older Geep switching cars in an industry, a passenger train racing across the country, or a Class I freight on the main line, the techniques that engineers learn and have at their disposal are pretty much the same throughout the craft, no matter the size or age of the power or the length of the train. Engineers must have a working knowledge and get annual check rides on the section of the railroad they will be working on. Engineers need to spend enough time in the seat, operating over the territory to learn its physical characteristics. These characteristics such as grades, curves, bridges, crossings, speed limits, switches, signals, and derails are important things that an engineer must know to help make decisions when operating the train.
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This controversial Rule is making strange bedfellows of sectors who more often than not are at odds. RWU continues to study the proposal. If the Rule were to divert loads from rail to highway - as some claim - this is a net loss for all of us. As opposed to highways, rail lines are privately owned, and as such, we have very little say in their operations. One more reason to support public/worker ownership and control. | |
Julie Sneider / May 3
A range of organizations — some of which don’t usually agree with each other when it comes to government regulation — have asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to deny the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) request for a waiver from the federal Clean Air Act so it can implement its “in-use locomotive” rule. Designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the rule prohibits locomotives older than 23 years from operating in the state, starting in 2030 for switch, industrial and passenger locomotives; and in 2035 for line haul locomotives. By 2047, 100% of annual fleet usage in California must be from zero-emissions locomotives. CARB approved the rule in October 2023. Not surprisingly, the Association of American Railroads and the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association have been fighting the CARB rule ever since the board proposed it. Additionally, the technology the rule calls for hasn’t been sufficiently tested and isn’t commercially available, the railroads say.
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Editor's Note: As Board member Primus notes, "something is better than nothing." The lack of competition in the rail freight industry means that the Class Ones can jack prices, make continual record profits, and turn away millions of carloads that now travel the nation's highways, subsidized of course by the taxpayers. The feds have attempted rail regulation for nearly 150 years now but it just does not seem to work. RWU calls for public/workers ownership and control of the industry as a means to make it work for America, not just hedge funds and investors. | |
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The Surface Transportation Board (STB) on April 30 reported adopting Reciprocal Switching for Inadequate Service. The final rule “is designed to promote adequate rail service,” according to the STB. Board Member Robert Primus concurred with a separate expression, noting “I am voting for the final rule because something is better than nothing.”
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Editor's Note: Leave it to the trucking industry - a bastion of disfunction and chaos - to engage in such an exploitative and dangerous practice. Just one more reason to get over-the-road trucks off the highways and onto the rails where they belong. | |
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Noi Mahoney / May 02
Gerry Reed, the owner of a small South Texas trucking company, said he’s fighting to survive against other carriers who continue to misuse Mexico-based B-1 visa drivers to deliver loads point to point within the U.S. Trucking and transportation operators in the U.S. and Mexico have been violating cabotage rules by misusing foreign B-1 visa drivers to deliver loads within the U.S. Cabotage rules prevent foreign nationals in the U.S. on B-1 business-visitor visas from competing with U.S. truckers on loads moving point to point in the U.S. The regulations are meant to protect driver jobs in the U.S. trucking industry.
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Editor's Note: The disgraceful backroom dealings that are going on are indicative of what sadly might just be the beginnings of a new chapter of the "craft war" in rail labor. Some unions support this group of rich investors, some rail unions, that group of rich investors. It is bad enough that we are even involved in this rich person's fight to see who is going to lord over us. But we are not united in even this charade! And to make matters worse, scabby deals are being cut behind closed doors between various unions and investor groups. It is truly sickening and very disheartening. THIS is the epitome of why RWU exists. | |
Wall Street Journal / April 30th
Norfolk Southern leaders were dealt a heavy blow in their proxy fight with activist investor Ancora Holdings on Monday after proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis endorsed six of Ancora’s seven proposed board nominees. In a report, Glass Lewis said Ancora presented “a compelling case” for overhauling Norfolk Southern’s current leadership, including Board Chair Amy Miles and Chief Executive Alan Shaw. “Based on our review, we believe the operating performance of the company has been consistently worse than its peers for an extended period,” it said. Glass Lewis said it was further swayed by the fact that multiple labor unions are publicly supporting Ancora, raising questions about whether cur--rent management would be able to improve its relationship with Norfolk Southern’s workforce.
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NEWS FROM AROUND THE LABOR MOVEMENT | |
Editor's Note: Workers must demand that in the newly emerging "green sector" of the economy that these jobs be good paying union jobs. The UAW's new contract with the Big Thtree is a step in that direction. | |
Katie Myers / April 29
Climate regulations and the Inflation Reduction Act’s generous incentives are now stimulating electric vehicle manufacturing. Despite the Biden administration’s pro-labor economic agenda, IRA funding—and thus billions of dollars in public and private investment—has largely gone to areas with low union density, spurring worries among autoworkers that the E.V. shift could create a second tier of lower-paid, nonunion workers spearheading the transition to electric vehicles, working in dangerous conditions with flammable elements like lithium.
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Editor's Note: The Flight Attendants union is protesting the fact that the National Mediation Board under the Railway Labor Act continually refuses to grant them a "release" to take "self-help" action (strike). It is time that rail and airline workers reclaim our God-given right to strike! | |
Association of Flight Attendants / April 11
Over 100,000 Flight Attendants have been in drawn-out negotiations across the industry. Without the credible threat of a strike, management across our industry is perfectly happy to prolong negotiations for years and delay paying for the improvements we have earned. We’ve been out on the picket lines and demonstrating what we’re willing to do to get the contracts that we deserve. Air Wisconsin Flight Attendants voted by 99% to authorize a strike, if necessary. Alaska Flight Attendants by 99.48%. American Flight Attendants by 99.47%. Omni Flight Attendants by 100%. Southwest Flight Attendants by 98%. Tell your Representatives in Congress to sign on to a letter that urges the National Mediation Board (NMB) to utilize all provisions of the Railway Labor Act,including “self help” and workers’ right to strike at the end of a 30 day cooling-off-period, to encourage negotiations for a fair contract for Flight Attendants and other aviation workers. Record profits should equal record contracts.
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Editor's Note: RWU adopted a Resolution at our 9th Biennial Convention in April to support this idea of common union contract expiration dates on May Day 2028, and a preparation for a general strike of working people to gain the power to achieve better wages, benefits and working conditions for ALL working Americans. | |
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SHAWN FAIN / APRIL 30
Members of the United Auto Workers courageously fought corporate greed at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis last fall during the historic six-week Stand-Up Strike. Because of their determination and commitment, we won record contracts with the Big Three automakers. After decades of falling behind, UAW autoworkers are finally moving forward again. We made a lot of ambitious demands at the bargaining table. One in particular may not have gotten the same attention as the reinstatement of cost-of-living adjustments or the reopening of the Stellantis assembly plant in Belvidere, Ill. — but it could also prove transformational: We aligned our contracts to expire at midnight on April 30, 2028. We are fully preparing to strike on May Day 2028, which is critically important for several reasons.
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Weekly Derailment Department | | | | |
