![]() ![]() People off of the street are being offered thousands of dollars to hire on at the railroad with no experience, only to work alongside existing experienced employees who have not had a contract raise for three years. One railroad CEO called certain operating employees, who actually move the nation’s freight doing what have become thankless jobs, “unnecessary” in a public appearance. Instead, the rail carriers have stonewalled at the bargaining table, adding insult to injury with their workforce every day as inflation drives the cost of living through the roof. Ironically, our proposals if adopted, would actually improve the workplace, improve the rail carriers’ ability to hire and adequately staff their operations and, in the end, improve the current railroad supply chain crisis that was created by railroad management. Rather, consumed by corporate greed that would make the robber barons of old blush, they just simply don’t want to share their record profits with their employees. There is no fact-based argument that the rail carriers cannot afford the Union’s proposals nor do they even make such a claim. Not once.Ĭonversely, the united rail unions, bargaining as coalitions, have made contract proposals that would improve the financial standing and quality of life of the hard-working Americans who make up our collective memberships. Let’s be clear in our third year of negotiations, the rail carriers have never made a contract proposal to our Union that their employees, our members, would accept. ![]() All the while, the rail carriers’ “profits over all else” mentality completely saturated our contract negotiations. They were considered essential workers during the height of the pandemic, forced to work day in and day out or be fired, with no financial recognition for doing so. The BLET members who voted to strike this week have worked for incredibly profitable railroads for over three years without a wage increase. Now, let’s throw a national contract negotiation into this already toxic workplace. In short, the railroads used and continue to use their economic strength to steam roll their employees, their customers and the Nation, all for the sake of their bottom line, and it is clear that they have no intentions of changing. This “employee and shipper be damned” business model accomplished the goal it set out to it continues to make record profits even as the rest of the Nation’s economy struggles due to a supply chain crisis created in large part by the carriers’ business model. Most of this information has been in the news, but there is a reason that nothing is changing. And if anyone is close to being abused as much as the employees by this business model, it’s the shippers, or as they should be called, the rail industries’ customers. These ridiculous policies forced thousands of employees out of the industry, either by resignation or termination, further compounding an already understaffed operation. Draconian attendance policies were implemented, forcing engineers and conductors to work day in and day out with no scheduled time off or be fired. As the post pandemic economy started to ramp up, they refused to adequately staff their operations, continually blaming their remaining employees for rail carrier actions that negatively impacted their shippers. They began running longer and longer trains, without regard for safety concerns, that continue to all but shut down the rail networks due to an infrastructure never designed to run these longer and heavier trains. To accomplish their goals, they furloughed or fired a third of their nationwide workforce, forcing the remaining employees to work more. In the years preceding the pandemic, the majority of the nation’s Class I rail carriers adopted slash and burn operating plans with only one goal in mind profits without regard to the health, safety, satisfaction or well-being of their employees, their customers or our Nation at large. But there is more to this story than just casting a vote in favor of striking. I too voted with the majority and I applaud them for doing it. Contrary to the self-serving propaganda being spread by the rail carriers, the BLET membership owes no one an apology for voting as they did. In a showing of solidarity and unity, 99.5% of the participating members voted to authorize a strike should such action become legal in the coming days, and become necessary to secure a contract worthy of their consideration. Today, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen tallied the ballots cast in its first nationwide strike vote over national contract negotiations since 2011.
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