Railroads

Are Railroads Slowly Committing Suicide?

October 29, 2024 David Sparkman, Material Handling and Logistics. Educate! Privatization, Public Rail, Railroads, Staffing

North America’s remaining six major freight railroads appear to be committing slow motion suicide, according to testimony offered by rail customers, industry analysts and labor to regulators on the Surface Transportation Board (STB) at two days of public hearings held last month. STB Chairman Robert E. Primus contended that the industry’s growth has not measured up to all of the opportunities that were presented to it over the past seven years, after Wall Street activist investors ignited the fad of Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR), an operations model sold to investors as a Holy Grail by prioritizing squeezing out costs over growing the business, and which has persisted since gaining widespread acceptance among investors in 2017.

A New Frontier For Rail Labor: Why Not?

October 10, 2024 Jason Doering, Railway Age. Strategize! Class Struggle, Democracy, Railroads, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

For decades, rail labor has been content with incremental changes, celebrating small victories that feel more like stopgaps than real wins. We’ve traded away larger gains for short-term stability, often without realizing the long-term costs. Just as past generations gave away firemen, brakemen and cabooses with little to show for it, we now find ourselves at another crossroads—staring down a future where one-person crews and automation loom large. The question isn’t if these changes will happen, but when. Why not seize this moment to rethink our approach? Why not stop asking how we can hold onto the scraps of what we once had, and instead demand a bigger seat at the table for the future?

Study: The Economic Case For A Public Rail System

September 24, 2024 Kira McDonald, Public Rail Now. Educate! Carbon emissions, climate crisis, Electrification, Environment, Health Care, Railroads, Report, Transportation, Worker Rights and Jobs

Public Rail Now is excited to announce their second research report in their campaign for public rail ownership. “From Margins to Growth: The Economic Case for a Public Rail System,” lays bare the economic facts for the current state of the US rail system is in a downward spiral, facts working railroaders have been espousing for decades. Public rail ownership has the potential to save up to $140 billion annually for US consumers, provide an estimated 180,000 new rail road jobs, avert $190 Billion in public health, environmental and fiscal cost, while helping to meet climate goals by avoiding 180 metric tonnes of carbon emissions.

Rail Crew, Environmental Justice Organizations Win Clean Air Rule

September 17, 2024 UE Union. Organize! Air, Environment, Green Jobs, Railroads, Victory, Worker Rights and Jobs

Rail crew drivers from UE Local 1077 joined environmental justice organizations in persuading the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) board to pass a life-saving regulation for rail yards in the Inland Empire, Los Angeles County, and Orange County. In response to overwhelming public support, including a letter signed by the UE local and its allies, the rule passed unanimously at the board’s meeting in August. Rule 2306 will limit toxic emissions from the 25 rail yards in operation and any new rail yards built in the region. According to SCAQMD, “The rule is expected to reduce Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) emissions associated with freight rail yards by about 10.5 tons per day between 2027 to 2050.”

Union Challenges Government Order That Sent Rail Contract Talks To Binding Arbitration

September 3, 2024 Bill Stephens, Trains. Resist! Canada, Government Intervention, Railroads, Strikes, Unions

Montreal — The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference is refusing to take no for an answer. The union, which represents 9,300 locomotive engineers and conductors on Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City, has filed appeals challenging the decisions that led to binding arbitration being imposed on their failed contract talks with the railways. The union argues that the decisions — made on Aug. 22 by the labor minister just hours after an unprecedented work stoppage shut down freight rail traffic in Canada, and then affirmed by the Canada Industrial Relations Board on Aug. 24 — stripped the workers of their right to strike.

‘Anti-Worker’ Trudeau Forces Arbitration On Rail Union

August 27, 2024 Edward Carver, Common Dreams. Educate! Canada, Justin Trudeau, Railroads, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights

The Canadian government on Thursday moved to end a lockout of workers at the country's two major rail corporations by forcing the two sides into arbitration, drawing sharp criticism from the union, which is challenging the move, and left-leaning political figures, including an ally of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) locked out about 9,300 engineers, conductors, and yard workers starting Thursday morning, shutting down the vast majority of the country's freight operations—a major disruption to the national economy and supplies chains across North America. The two sides had failed to reach a labor agreement after months of negotiating.

Campaign For Public Rail: Private Rail Companies Put Profits Over Safety

August 26, 2024 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. Podcast - Clearing The FOG climate crisis, Corporatism, Electrification, Public ownership, Railroads, Worker Rights

Private railroad corporations are failing their workers, their clients and the public in general. Their drive for profits means fewer workers, longer hours and neglecting basic safety protocols, unpredictable schedules for freight customers, which is devastating for farmers, and delays for passengers as well as deterioration of railway infrastructure. Clearing the FOG speaks with Maddock Thomas, the author of a new white paper, "Putting America Back on Track: The Case for a 21st Century Public Rail System," who explains the problems with the current system and how a public, electrified rail system would cost less, have a lower carbon footprint, and benefit workers and customers. Thomas is part of a new campaign, Public Rail Now.

Canada Ends Lockout Of Rail Workers

August 23, 2024 Joe DeManuelle-Hall, Labor Notes. Resist! Canada, Lockout, Railroad Workers, Railroads, Strikes, Unions

Ten thousand Canadian railroad workers were locked out early this morning after two sets of major contracts expired. Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) forced out locomotive engineers, conductors, and yard workers who are organized under the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference. The major issues for the unions are scheduling and rest period protections in the contracts—areas where they say the railroads are demanding concessions. Through contracts and governmental regulations, union members have maintained some level of protection against increasingly demanding schedules. Workers have the right to rest periods between shifts and protections around how many hours they can be forced to work.

Teamsters Deliver Strike Notice; Canada Rail Delivers Lockout Notice

August 19, 2024 David Lassen, Trains. Resist! Canada, Railroads, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights

The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference today (Aug. 18) served a 72-hour strike notice to Canadian Pacific Kansas City, saying the union will walk out at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 22, barring a last-minute labor agreement. Canadian National Railway, meanwhile, announced it had delivered a formal 72-hour lockout notice, following up on plans it had announced on Aug. 9 [see “Canadian rail strike could begin …,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 9, 2024]. CPKC had also said it would institute a lockout on Aug. 22. The 72-hour notifications are required under Canadian law. Strike notice at CPKC The TCRC said it was issuing the strike notice after CPKC served notice it would lock out union members and change the terms of the collective agreements.

Norfolk Southern Worker Sues; Railroad Put ‘Profits Ahead Of Safety’

July 30, 2024 Mike Gauntner, WFMJ. Resist! Derailment, East Palestine, Norfolk Southern, Railroads, Workplace Safety

Claiming that Norfolk Southern put “profits ahead of safety,” one of the railroad’s employees has filed a lawsuit accusing the company of negligence by sending him to the site of the February 3, 2023 fire, derailment, and toxic spill in East Palestine. Joseph Lee Roberts of Indiana filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Youngstown Wednesday claiming he had developed chemically induced asthma after he and other workers were exposed to vinyl chloride that some of the derailed cars had been carrying. Roberts says in the lawsuit that with a focus on getting trains running through the village again, Norfolk Southern sent employees to East Palestine to fix the track which had been damaged by the derailment and fire.

Putting America Back On Track: A 21st Century Public Rail System

July 1, 2024 Maddock Thomas and Adam Barrington, Public Rail Now. Create! Public ownership, Railroads, Report, Workplace Safety

As America grapples with the everlasting impacts of the derailment in East Palestine, OH., Public Rail Now and Railroad Workers United released their latest report entitled "Putting America Back on Track: The Case for a 21st Century Public Rail System." Authored by Maddock Thomas, a Stone Fellow from Brown University and recipient of the North American Rail Shippers Association scholarship, this report presents a compelling argument for transitioning the United States' rail system to public ownership. Drawing on historical precedent and rigorous analysis, it makes a compelling case for overseeing our rail infrastructure in the same manner as our interstate highways, inland waterways, and airports.

Judge Orders Railway To Pay Washington Tribe For Trespassing

June 29, 2024 Gene Johnson, AP. Resist! BNSF, Indigenous Sovereignty, Legal System, Oil Trains, Railroads, Washington State

Seattle, WA — BNSF Railway must pay nearly $400 million to a Native American tribe in Washington state, a federal judge ordered Monday after finding that the company intentionally trespassed when it repeatedly ran 100-car trains carrying crude oil across the tribe’s reservation. U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik initially ruled last year that the railway deliberately violated the terms of a 1991 easement with the Swinomish Tribe north of Seattle that allows trains to carry no more than 25 cars per day. The judge held a trial earlier this month to determine how much in profits BNSF made through trespassing from 2012 to 2021 and how much it should be required to disgorge.

Threat Of Canadian Rail Strike Looms After Bid For Conciliation Fails

June 11, 2024 Charlotte Goldstone, The Loadstar. Resist! Canada, Railroads, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Last week’s meetings between the Teamsters union (TCRC) and Canadian National Railway (CN) were abandoned less than halfway through, as the parties refuse to see eye-to-eye. Rail workers at CN and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) were set to strike on 22 May, but a request from the government for the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to “review if a strike could endanger public safety” put this on pause. The CIRB process does not impact continued bargaining, and last week TCRC and CN planned three days of meetings with the participation of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services.

Electric Trains Are The Powerhouse Electric Vehicles

June 4, 2024 High Speed Rail Alliance. Create! climate crisis, Electric Vehicles, Energy, Railroads, Trains, Transportation

Lawmakers and business leaders alike are touting electric cars as a game-changer for climate change. And it’s true that cutting carbon pollution from vehicles is critical. The transportation sector accounts for about 29 percent of greenhouse-gas pollution in the US. The on-road emissions in Texas alone account for nearly ½ of 1 percent of all carbon-dioxide pollution globally. But the hype around electric cars is misplaced. Electric trains are the true powerhouse EV in the fight against climate change. And it’s not even close. Data from the UK shows that the national rail system is about 25% more energy efficient than electric cars, and London’s subway system is about 40% more efficient.

Reformers Win Rerun Election In Rail Machinists

May 18, 2024 Joe DeManuelle-Hall, Labor Notes. Organize! Democracy, Elections, Labor Movement, Railroads, Unions, Worker Rights

Reformers in the Machinists rail union have ousted incumbents in a Department of Labor-supervised election. According to the results posted on the union’s website, challenger Reece Murtagh won the presidential election in District 19 of the IAM, 820 to 748, while his slate-mate Marty Rosato won 787 to 774 for secretary-treasurer. Both Murtagh and Rosato are full-time railroad workers. Murtagh is a roadway mechanic for CSX and the president of his local lodge in Richmond, Virginia; Rosato works at CSX in Selkirk, New York. They will take office June 3. Murtagh received the news while he was finishing up his shift at work. In his shop, his co-workers celebrated victory by playing the “Rocky” theme from their phones.

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