Unions say rail companies\u2019 desire for increased profits is driving up safety risks \u2013 and more accidents will happen without action
\nUS railroad workers say the train derailment in Ohio, which forced thousands of residents to evacuate and is now spreading a noxious plume of carcinogenic chemicals across the area, should be an \u201ceye-opening\u201d revelation for Congress and \u201can illustration of how the railroads operate, and how they\u2019re getting away with a lot of things\u201d.
\nWorkers and union officials cited the Norfolk Southern Railway derailment in early February as a glaring example of why safety reforms to the industry \u2013 which include providing workers with paid sick leave \u2013 need to be made.
\nThirty-eight cars on the train derailed in the town of East Palestine, near the Pennsylvania border, including 11 cars carrying hazardous materials that incited an evacuation order, a controlled release of chemicals, and fears of harmful chemical exposure to residents, wildlife and waterways.
\nUnions and rail companies have been at loggerheads for years over new contracts that would address what workers describe as poor working conditions, and would provide paid sick days amid grueling schedules caused by labor cuts.
\n\u201cWithout a change in the working conditions, without better scheduling, without more time off, without a better work-life balance, the railroad is going to suffer,\u201d said Ron Kaminkow, the general secretary of Railroad Workers United, an Amtrak engineer in Reno, Nevada, and the vice-president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (Blet) local 51. \u201cIt\u2019s just intrinsic, with short staffing. Corners get cut and safety is compromised.\u201d
\nGreg Regan, president of the AFL-CIO\u2019s transportation trades department, said the loss of workers in recent years, which has coincided with record profits for railroad corporations, was the driving force for deteriorating conditions on US railroads.
\nThe railroad industry workforce plummeted from over 1 million workers in the 1950s to fewer than 150,000 in 2022, with a loss of 40,000 railroad jobs between November 2018 and December 2020. The six major railroad corporations that have yet to agree to provide workers with paid sick days reported\u2002over $22bn in profits, and spent more than $20bn on stock buybacks and shareholder dividends last year.
\nRegan said the derailment in Ohio was an example of why these working-condition issues need to be addressed.
\n\u201cIt increases a lot of risk in what is a very dangerous industry. When things go wrong there can be very tragic consequences,\u201d added Regan.
\nThe corporations are also opposing reforms to implement mandatory participation to an anonymous close-call reporting system so workers can report safety concerns without fear of reprisal and identify problems before they result in accidents, said Leo McCann, chair of the rail labor division of transportation trades department.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s kind of an eye-opener,\u201d McCann said of the Ohio derailment. \u201cIt\u2019s an illustration of how the railroads operate and how they\u2019re getting away with a lot of things.\u201d
\nWorkers criticized the decision by Congress and the Biden administration to impose a tentative new contract agreement on all railroad unions, despite more than half of represented members voting to reject it due to the lack of paid sick days.
\nThe majority of workers in precision railroad scheduling systems \u2013 operational systems focused on cutting costs \u2013 currently have no paid sick days and face attendance points for taking time off, which could result in termination.
\nWorkers have complained that disciplinary attendance systems, coupled with drastic staffing cuts, have diminished morale, incentivized workers to continue working through illness or fatigue and increased safety risks.
\nOn 2 February, all 12 railroad unions issued a resolution demanding paid sick days for railroad workers. Bernie Sanders and Republican senator Mike Braun held a press conference with union representatives on 9 February to add further pressure to corporations to provide workers with at least seven paid sick days.
\nThe renewed push comes shortly after CSX Transportation announced it came to an agreement with two unions representing 5,000 railroad workers to provide four days of paid sick leave to all workers and allow workers to use up to three personal leave days for sick leave.
\n\u201cThe next step is to make sure we bring other railroads to the table and hopefully get a resolution,\u201d said Regan. \u201cThis is the worst relationship that has been between the railroads and their workers in my career.\u201d He said the tension had been exacerbated by the rail companies\u2019 determination to increase profits by cutting staff.
\n\u201cWhen you\u2019re going to treat your employees that way, to continue to try to squeeze as many pennies out of each individual worker as you possibly can, without any regard for their wellbeing, you\u2019re going to have really contentious bargaining sessions like we had last year,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThe railroad companies do not want to actually participate. They\u2019re just anti-regulatory in their mind, but that\u2019s not the case here: it\u2019s about safety, and to ensure workers can go home to their families at night and not have a tragedy happen to them,\u201d added McCann.
\n\u201cThe railroads are more interested in profitability and keeping their return on investment up and their numbers down so they can satisfy Wall Street, and they just live behind this shield hoping nothing will happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Theguardian<\/p>\n
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