This negotiation has brought back a really sad memory for me. I was working in an acute psychiatric hospital at the time a woman came in after attempting suicide. About 9 months earlier there had been a head on collision of two trains. The guys responsible forgot to switch the tracks, and one of the engineers had fallen asleep (this was …
This negotiation has brought back a really sad memory for me. I was working in an acute psychiatric hospital at the time a woman came in after attempting suicide. About 9 months earlier there had been a head on collision of two trains. The guys responsible forgot to switch the tracks, and one of the engineers had fallen asleep (this was all found out in the investigation). The women who was brought in was the wife of one of the men blamed. After her husband died she had to go to work to support her kids after they lost their home. Her mother moved in to their trailer home to help with the kids while she worked the night shift at a truck stop. While she was at work her trailer caught fire while the family was asleep and her mother and kids all died. Within one year she had lost all of her family. As her therapist I was at a total loss of any words that could comfort her and help her to find a reason for not giving up. Not long after the investigation blamed her husband and the other man for the devastation. The train companies were totally absolved of any blame and the insurance covered all the damages. And now all these years later these corporations are pushing for an even lower level of staff who provide such an important role, and now even when they are sick and exhausted. That these companies are allowed to treat workers this way is criminal. I wish the workers would strike. Their Christmas will not be happy and bright.
Cut jobs but demand increased productivity and profits
This has been occurring in America for decades as workers spend 50/60 hours a week on the job or “on call” trying to prove their value to management. Its all tacitly voluntary and expected, but America is working itself to death in terms of undue stress causing medical issues. And when you die the death of a plowhorse, they replace you
Our priority? Don’t let gas prices, Happy Meals or Wallmart trinkets rise, right?
Understaffing goes in many places of employment. The first one I think is long term care facilities like nursing homes. My mother's facility had 4 staffers on the floor to care for residents, many of them no longer able to walk. One of the four was the med tech, giving out medicines. So three staffers had 45 people to care for, plus serve meals. The far off corporate owner was much more interested in profits than people. Little concern for the residents and less for the staff.
Been There - Seen That. I was a CNA who worked in Nursing Homes & Hospitals. The hospital was OK, it was a teaching hospital at a large university and had student nurses filling for Nursing Assistants in clinicals. But the long-term care facilities often had unreasonable managerial expectations of the staff.
I had to stay in a nursing facility for 20 days. An utter nightmare. Only "nurses" could do certain things, had to wait almost two hours before one showed up to help adjust my bandages easing pain. I'm disabled (paralyzed) and they left me unassisted, nearly fell to the floor. Would have broken a hip or something. Severely understaffed. Never again will I go there.
Right. And when anyone makes even a baby step toward rectifying the wrongs, we blame them for the problem ... why wait on the overworked, underpaid employees to strike - when will "WE THE PEOPLE" of consumer society step up and refuse to consume the fruits of such inequitable conditions?!
What?! Tighten my belt?! I got rid of that years ago ... won't fit anymore!!
... see, rabid consumerism fueled by All American Game-Time USA breeds an unbridled appetite for IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION ... like the push button automatic drive - who needs a clutch anymore (until heavy snow and ice descend) ... anybody know how to jump-start this thing?! Quick, easy answers looking for someone to blame for the slippery slide downhill ... thankfully, those people on the ground who keep working for real change PERSIST:
"Rail labor leaders continue the fight today for job security, better working conditions, fair wages and benefits, improved safety conditions and elimination of massive cutbacks.
"The benevolent society that started with a few trackmen on a hot July day in Alabama has shown that it can meet the challenges and problems of an ever-changing industry and will continue to protect its members' rights as it has for more than a century."
*****
The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (BMWED)
"The history of the advance and growth of American railroads is an episode in the saga of a people's restless urge to explore and to move on. Heeding that urge, these people expanded into the far corners of the North American Continent, moving as slow or as fast as their means of transportation allowed. This movement began in earnest only after the railroad's steel web was spun from coast-to-coast. Once the rail system was established, the great construction gangs began to settle down and maintain that which they had built. But, while the robber barons of the early railroads amassed great fortunes, their employees worked from dawn to dusk for pennies a day without insurance, vacations or means of support after years of hard work. It was these conditions that inspired early rail workers to organize collectively and form unions to protect their common interests.
"One such union was the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes (BMWE). The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes - later to become the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (BMWED) - is a national union representing the workers who build and maintain the tracks, bridges, buildings and other structures on the railroads of the United States. Founded in 1887, at Demopolis, Alabama, as a fraternal organization by Track Foreman John T. Wilson, the BMWED membership forms a cross section of American culture. Their goals, interests and political backgrounds are as diversified as their heritage. Once an International union with over 350,000 members in the United States and Canada, automation, the rise of the trucking and airline industries, coupled with the policies of a conservative government, has depleted the ranks of the BMWED to under 40,000 members. Since the passage of the Staggers Rail Act of 1978, railroad management, using competition as an excuse and the anti-union climate as an ally, has been selling or abandoning the nation's rail system. Realizing that our country is losing a vital link in its transportation network, the BMWED struggles to reverse this trend. Using our rich history as a guide - drawing on the strength of the union - we confront management in the halls of Congress and the State Legislatures, through use of our newspaper the BMWED Journal, the nation's court system and at the bargaining tables.
"It was in 2004 that the BMWE merged with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and consolidated its strength with that of the powerful 1.4 million member Teamster Union. As a part of the Teamster Rail Division the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division continues the battle that John T. Wilson courageously fought in the face of so much opposition.
*****
"Rail labor leaders continue the fight today for job security, better working conditions, fair wages and benefits, improved safety conditions and elimination of massive cutbacks.
"The benevolent society that started with a few trackmen on a hot July day in Alabama has shown that it can meet the challenges and problems of an ever-changing industry and will continue to protect its members' rights as it has for more than a century."
*****
History of Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes: Its Birth and Growth - 1887 to 1955
Thanks for all this information! This is a prime example of the benefits of being a subscriber to Dr Richardson’s newsletter--all that I learn from fellow subscribers!
I agree! I have learned so much from being a subscriber and just reading the comments from so many other subcribers. You all have become my friends and I look forward to mornings to hear from you all! Have a wonderful December day. Hugs to all!
A thorough, persuasive and articulate recounting of a complicated history Kathleen!
I would, however, place it in an even broader context, or at least Yuval Noah Harari did in his book Sapiens (2015) wherein he describes our last great age as the Age of Industrialization. He locates the beginning of this age in the early 1820's as the government set a standard time (Greenwich Mean Time or GMT) so that England's nascent railroad industry could schedule and predict when trains would arrive at the various towns along their routes, towns which each had their own rough estimate of time. As a previously largely agrarian society, they hadn't needed much regular clock time as the rising and setting the sun dictated much of their daily activity. This Age of Industrialization also marked when governments began to legislate changes in law in support of industry and the individual's capacity to move around necessary for trains (and factories, etc) vs historical reliance on families and close communities to maintain survival, health and societal organization. It would seem that trend has continued even with the laws via which the current administration must work.
So true, John - and see how disassociated we have become from core health accordingly - who can afford to lose track of time - to breathe freely - feel life waters flowing through with every breath ... no, better run to the hospital - feed that industry with our life blood - oh, who can afford that - better keep that job, chained to the timeclock - even if it kills you - can you even afford insurance to cover the cost of your very expensive burial ...?
"From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.”
"One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us?
"Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas.
"Dr. Harari also compels us to look ahead, because over the last few decades humans have begun to bend laws of natural selection that have governed life for the past four billion years. We are acquiring the ability to design not only the world around us, but also ourselves. Where is this leading us, and what do we want to become?
"Featuring 27 photographs, 6 maps, and 25 illustrations/diagrams, this provocative and insightful work is sure to spark debate and is essential reading for aficionados of Jared Diamond, James Gleick, Matt Ridley, Robert Wright, and Sharon Moalem."
You know what's missing from that extensive list? ADEQUATE STAFFING! If the companies hired and trained enough people to fully staff the work, there would be fewer injuries, deaths, human misery, stress, and the goods and people being moved would actually be safer and on time. What is wrong with these companies? Warren Buffet, we're looking at you.
"America needs an attitude adjustment" is an understatement Dave. When did money become more important than people's lives? PSR should've never been allowed at the worker's expense. I understand why many of them feel betrayed by Biden. It was a tough decision to avoid a strike, but at the worker's expense. Where's the compassion, empathy, Gratitude? And as Linda pointed out, it has devastating effects, not just for the workers, but also their families. And result in long lasting health issues. I say strike and let everyone feel their (workers) value, necessity and importance. These workers are slaves to their masters and they're paying for this treatment in union dues. Wake up America.
The real problem faced by Biden is the reality that the strike position threatens the health of entirety of the people in the US and it guarantees the collaspe of the economy in ways that will perpetuate itself long after the strike is settled
This is not a black and white decision. Its one that requires hard choices with many complicated results. Its not the domain of weak decision makers
IMO, keeps the railroads running now, address the complicated issues at once, but do not expect immediate remedy given the Manchin’s involved. Its a tough slog
What is black and white is that the RR’s have too much concentrated power, and this makes the whole country vulnerable. The RR’s are too big and there is not enough overlap competition.We need more information from the workers. Where are the stories of what RR workers are forced to endure. By threatening to strike we know current conditions are not sustainable, so this issue will return again.
Ted. The media needs to research and expose the employees' issues, the railroad company concerns - perhaps in the form of a Michael Moore-type documentary film. It seems the country is laying responsibility at the feet of the workers while managenent decisions are behind this supply train crisis. Now is the time for a close examination of balance between labor and management, in so many sectors. The next crisis is barrelling down the tracks ..
I think media wont do this. Why upset one of their customers? Yes, Moore or Frontline could do a great job of this.
Im thinking this is just another case of gov to friendly with the RR Lobby, and over time, we just dont see the monopolies power grow untill this threat of strike threatens the entire econmy. Its just crazy that any industry can not have sick days and during a Pandemic. It is unacceptable. Just like the FDA is with Sugar Producers Lobby...making it okay to add excess sugar to just about every food causing an obesity epidemic. Pharmacy lobby keeping insulin prices high and the Opiod crisis was caused when by the Pharm Lobby led the FDA to changing laws that moved Oxycotin out of its addictive classification allowing for over prescriptions throwing many communities into a public health crisis. Lobbyist, oligarchy, monopolies, Corptocracy....they all run in the same shoes causing so many problems for everyone, banking record profits, stock buybacks, increasing wealth inequality at a scale rivalling and surpassing the 1920's. Enough is enough.
The problem is getting RR employees to talk in public about the issues. They will be targeted for termination if they do. That’s why most of the talking comes from union officials.
As a railroad employee, the biggest issue is quality of life. Employees in unassigned service (on call 24/7) have no scheduled off days. They are only off if the RR doesn’t call them to work of if they’ve worked several days in a row (usually 6 or 7 days). These employees base their lives around train lineups, which are always inaccurate. When I was in unassigned service, it was normal for the lineup to show I wasn’t getting called for a couple of days only to get a middle of the night call to go to work immediately. If we aren’t properly rested because of bad lineups, management doesn’t care. If we tell them we can’t work because we aren’t rested, we get threatened with discipline. That is just one issue. I can go on all day.
Unfortunately, you could say the same thing about every corporation in the country right now. We allowed the evisceration of Monopoly laws in this country. It won’t be remedied easily.
Exactly! 100%. I think it starts with repeal of Citizens United. Draw down the $ spent on elections, this makes elected officials answer to their consitutents that are real persons first and foremost.
Always at the expense of the workers - labor - 'the beasts of burden', animals, such as a mule or donkey, that is used for carrying loads. Your explanation, Dave, did not in my opinion resolve the power of the very few over the rest of us. It's not Democracy in this country with such an economic inequality formula.
I hope the workers throw a wildcat strike. If the railways are so important they can damn well afford to provide decent hours, pay, and benefits to their workers. American labour laws (and most of the rest of their laws) are at best 19th century compared to the rest of the world. The wealth of nations and the wealth of capitalists are diametrically opposed.
If I had some brilliant resolution, I’d be directing traffic on a national scale. We live in a society driven by outcomes. Profit is easy to measure. Quality of life is not
There exists a balancing act in determining what is in the best interest overall; that decision making requires pragmatism. That comes at some expense
The power of the very few is not new. Its an historic reality. Chipping away at that power through social safety nets is an evolutionary process. Idealism is good but never implementable in total. Its the gray stuff in the middle that counts and the “pragmatic” are usually attacked by both extremes. Leaders must be pragmatic in any Democracy which means ghey must live in the messy gray
If you have an implementable solution that doesn’t shut down the economy as well as insulin shipments, I’m all ears
Since the railroads were a national construct and have grown to crippling gigantism the answer lies necessarily in nationalizing the behemoth, as do many other publicly damaging industries. Perhaps the time has come to limit the size of titans to keep them from overwhelming the public good. Call me any name you like, just let us please not continue to privatize things like the military, prisons, mail delivery, and needed healthcare. As a case in point I don’t think gazillionaires like Musk should be allowed to buy the U.S.Air Force. Any such industries should be incorporated in the public domain as they attain size critical to the function of the nation.
Yes, this is the problem. RRs carry vital supplies necessary to the health of many people including chemicals to purify the water supply. i would hope that with a strike averted for now, that work on a better solution for the workers begins immediately. Greed, as usual, is running this scenario for now in terms of the rail owners. I have tried to shut out the consumerism of the season as well. I am still reading the book about Miriam Leslie who ran her husband's publishing business in NYC after he died. A lot of it describes what was going on in the city, in the government, etc. it sounds familiar to certain things happening now.
Dave, The unions have some legitimate demands; they are not radical. Profit, in the way that capitalism has jumped the rails in the US provides 1% of Americans more than a third of the country's wealth. 'Balancing', Dave, no kidding! To quote you, '...determining what is in the best interest overall; that decision making requires pragmatism'. 'Overall' benefit". Really, Dave, I'd welcome the data for that.
'In the second quarter of 2022, 68 percent of the total wealth in the United States was owned by the top 10 percent of earners. In comparison, the lowest 50 percent of earners only owned 3.2 percent of the total wealth.' (statista)
'Most Americans favor raising the federal minimum wage, which has been $7.25 an hour since 2009. About six-in-ten adults (62%), including majorities in nearly every demographic group, support increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Even among the 38% of Americans who oppose a $15 minimum, most say they’d support a smaller increase, according to an April Pew Research Center survey.'
'Real median U.S. household income was $70,784 in 2021, statistically unchanged from the previous year, although income inequality increased for the first time since 2011, according to U.S. Census Bureau release of the Income in the United States: 2021 report.'
According to the Census Bureau 'Declines in real income at the bottom of the income distribution resulted in increased income inequality as measured by the Gini index — a common measure of income inequality.'
I'm not speaking as an idealist, and your 'pragmatism' in my opinion favors management over labor; the Ultra rich v. the rest of us. I think David, while believing that you favor the most pragmatic way to solve the equation of extreme economic inequality in US, your way in my estimation is at the expense of most people.
F**k pragmatism. It is why American cant have nice things. Shutting down the economy is what the Republicans are going to do. Clean out the DNC. Stop called Corporate Dems moderates and start voting for Progressives. Their "radical" agenda works well in the rest of the democratic developed countries.
But as we keep the railroads running and this crisis is resolved (temporarily), will anyone follow up to resolve these very issues for the RR workers? Who will keep this issue on the front page? The workers are giving up their lives - what are the RR execs giving up?
It was once said by a former Chief of Staff (to the President) that all the decisions that reach the President are hard, because the easy ones gets solved before they get there.
This one must've hurt Biden to the marrow, but he did what the nation needed.
As idealists argue for the perfect solution, blaming decision makers (Biden) for taking an imperfect one, it occurs to me that some people may have never been forced to make an imperfect decision and have no empathy for the heart wrenching agony of those who must make hard choices knowing that whatever decision they make, people are going to be harmed
Here’s a question I’d like the idealists to answer, “Did General Eisenhower make a good decision when he gave the go ahead for D Day?”
Great leaders suffer the costs of their pragmatism
Why are you labeling those who disagree with you 'idealists'? Some of us think of ourselves as realists, democrats, liberals, progressives, idealists, socialists, independents, fair minded human beings...
Had all the important options been examined by Biden and the Department of Transportation before the welfare of a segment of rail workers was left to the discretion of the rail carriers? Think about it for a minute. I don't know all the ways in addition to making stronger demands on the rail carriers with reference to workers' work schedules and healthcare costs. Another subscriber raised an important issue:
Linda Mitchell, KCMO:
'One of the problems with rail transportation in the USA that HCR did not mention: almost all the track in the US is owned by one company--CSX. It dominates the entire industry and also controls passenger rail service because it can nix the development of new passenger services on the basis that freight has to take precedence. Unless the CSX monopoly is broken (and they make a hella lot of money while being dangerously blasé about their employees) nothing will change. And they have a lot at stake to prevent that from happening.'
I'm guessing there are still other possible options to scrutinize before the rail workers were nailed to the tracks.
If the US government, instead of interceding at this time, had chosen to file an antitrust suit against CSX, who could shut down all the trains, the damage to a fragile economy would be much worse.
The CSX monopoly an issue to be addressed. This many not be the right time to do so.
Dave, as you can surmise, I don't buy into your position. There are some who know a good deal about American Capitalism and what it has been doing to many Americans and our grand experiment with democracy.
'The Averted National Rail Strike Is a Parable of Contemporary American Capitalism'
'Railroads are prioritizing payments to Wall Street stockholders over everything else, including serving the public interest.'
By John Cassidy
'In our click-driven world, the threatened strike at America’s freight railroads, and President Biden’s intervention to prevent it, represents last week’s news. But there are two groups for which the averted strike is still very much front and center: the hundred and fifteen thousand rail workers who will be forced to work under the terms of the contract agreement that the White House and Congress imposed upon them after some rail unions rebuffed a deal mediated by the Administration, and the managers and owners of the railroads, who will get back to running what, these days, is an immensely lucrative, and suspiciously monopolistic, business.'
'Much of the news coverage of the contract dispute focussed on the railroads’ refusal to grant their workers paid sick leave. But this intransigence was only one aspect of a larger parable of modern American capitalism. Unfolding in one of the country’s oldest and most far-flung industries, it is a story of deregulation, consolidation, downsizing, under-investment, and intensification of work practices. Most of all, though, it is a story of financialization, and of prioritizing payments to wealthy stockholders over everything else, including serving the public interest.'
'During the lockdowns early in the coronavirus pandemic, the railroads accelerated their job cuts and capacity reductions. When demand rebounded last year, many shippers faced chronic delays, cancellations, and, in one case, a temporary suspension of service on key routes between the West Coast and Chicago. “Freight-railroad service is abysmal,” Representative Peter DeFazio, the chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, complained, at a hearing earlier this year. “This appalling service is forcing shippers to recoup their extra costs downstream and Americans are paying for it—with increased food costs and at the gas pump.”
'The modern rail-freight industry dates back to 1980, when Congress partially dismantled a strict system of regulation that had been introduced in the late nineteenth century following a catalogue of abuses by the companies of the original railroad barons, men like Jay Gould, James Hill, and Edward Henry Harriman. The Staggers Rail Act of 1980—named after the Democratic congressman Harley O. Staggers, Sr.—gave the railroads much more freedom to run their operations, including closing down unprofitable lines and setting their own freight rates, which the federal government had previously determined through the Interstate Commerce Commission. For a time, deregulation appeared to work as planned. Thanks to healthy competition in many areas, prices fell and shipments increased. After decades of losing out to trucking, the rail industry started to win back market share, which was good news for its workers and owners, and for the environment. (Rail transportation is much less carbon-intensive than trucking.)'
'Similarly to what happened in the decades after the Carter Administration deregulated the airline industry, the era of vigorous rail competition gradually gave way to consolidation and tacit collusion. After a long series of mergers, there are now just seven large, or Class I, railroads, compared to thirty-three in 1980, and between them they control more than eighty per cent of the freight market. “CSX and Norfolk Southern have a duopoly on traffic east of Chicago, while Union Pacific and BNSF have a duopoly on traffic west of Chicago,” Matthew Jinoo Buck, a senior fellow at the American Liberties Project, pointed out, in an illuminating article for *The American Prospect *earlier this year. “Canadian Pacific, Canadian National, and Kansas City Southern run much traffic going north-south through the Midwest.”
'Rather than expanding their operations for a greener age, the big railroads have been doing what unregulated or lightly regulated monopolists (and duopolists) tend to do: rationalizing their operations, reducing their work forces, and charging prices well above their costs. According to the Surface Transportation Board, which replaced the defunct Interstate Commerce Commission in 1996, inflation-adjusted freight rates have risen by thirty per cent since 2004, and over-all freight traffic—in terms of carloads and tonnages—has been declining since 2006. In recent years, the industry has slashed its workforce by roughly a third. “Operating the railroads with that many fewer employees makes it difficult to avoid cuts in service, provide more reliable service, and reduce poor on-time performance that does not compete well with trucks.” Martin J. Oberman, the current chair of the Surface Transportation Board, noted, in a speech last year.' (NewYorker) Link to complete article is below.
…and timing, too. How long ago if ever will this country take necessary steps to stop the transfer of wealth to the ultra wealthy and begin to rectify the extreme inequality of wealth here?
I linked three pieces from Robert Reich that you might appreciate. The last is a videotape.
Tell that to republicans, oh no, never blame the perpetrators of the problem. Dems can keep handling the vitriol. Republicans love it, Hawley really does
Indeed Dave Dalton -> "Root cause analysis: Understaffing". I could and would argue for a far harsher, less politically correct defining word: "Greed" vs Human / humane realities. Greed wins another, and this has played out for decades upon decades, in fact grossly accelerating since about 1981. I have a personally lived story not too much unlike the poignant truths told by our contributor Linda Blue - different corporate giants, different unions, but the resultant outcomes no less traumatic and life altering. Someday, I'll be called on to tell those true stories, is my greatest hope. In the mean time my daily task is to find some semblance of sanity and serenity - in the name of self preservation, to acknowledge and try to accept, that small i, have little to no control of people, places, things outside of myself and my reactions to those 'things' I can't control.
I do not disagree re greed, but that seems not specific enough to the railroad issue
My experience in America is that management will pile on tasks until the worker is overwhelmed. Our culture is such that employees will find ways to increase their output via extra hours (many times voluntary for salaried employees) as management pushes for more
Until Covid, employers had the upper hand in terms of “if you don’t perform, there’s ten people behind you who will”. Covid changed that. Supply of labor is at a premium right now. Workers have “some” leverage at this point. The wheel turns slowly
My point is that, as I read the indignation towards Biden regarding the 4 rail unions (out of 12), I’m thinking that any action he might take will criticized, so he has to act like Solomon and lead. Some people raise issue with his decision but fail to acknowledge that he is not a King. His power is limited by law, as it should be. His responsibility is to the country, not individual special interests
The situation is difficult. He moved business and labor back to the table to find compromise. Some didn’t like the result and blame him. I think he played the cards he was dealt the best anyone could
No one is offering a better course of action here except those holding a Royal Flush, which Biden was not dealt
In this case, pragmatism is how the world of reality works. And so, some people complain and others recognize the limitation of our laws and culture
This is indeed part of the problem. We personally are very concerned about those people who provide goods and services, but the pandemic showed us just how awful a large part of the population can be when they don't get what they want asap or even have the minor inconvenience of wearing a mask which we still do when going inside stores. We make an effort to buy locally and tip generously.
There is a maximum number of hours truckers can be on the road, which is still high enough for the drivers to fall asleep. There is no reason there can't be a minimum staffing requirement on trains--1 individual for every mile of train, as an example.
It's like basic common sense ends where profits begin.
Railroads have been trying to hire. The problem is that railroads want to eliminate the conductor position and are in negotiations to do just that on a couple of railroads. Other railroads will do the same as soon as they can. Train service employees hire out as conductors, then promote to engineer. So when a railroad hire a group of new contractors, the new employees find out during their training the the position they were just hired for is temporary since that job is in negotiations to be eliminated. Most are quitting before they complete training to go find a permanent job. Where I work, management tried to hire a group of 15. Only one completed the training.
So well put: “attitude adjustment.” As one of the last remembering WWII, I plead for rationing and price controls (climate change and food prices must ALWAYS be linked), smaller and fewer cars, more public transportation. It’s survival for the species - the big picture, America!
Linda, that is such a touching story that humanizes this issue. Why doesn’t that story make headlines?
Professor Richardson noted that Elizabeth Warren opposed the measure. She’s smart and compassionate. I would love to hear the compromise she would have voted for.
It doesn't make headlines for the same reasons President Biden's accomplishments have gotten short shrift...the media by and large are creatures of the same corporate culture and untold hours of airtime and columns of print are devoted to the latest idiocy by tfg.
Yes, I saw that Elizabeth Warren opposed the bill along with Bernie Sanders which gives me pause to think. I, too, would like to hear the compromise that they
I think mainstream media is in the pockets of their corporate owners. The goal is to make money for shareholders and all those 401Ks. News gatherers read and regurgitate the news releases and stats they receive from corporate PR departments and go home. By and large the once indispensable 4th estate no longer watches out for the little guy. I read newsletters like this one to gain understanding. It helps me be an informed voter.
Go to their web pages. They have both sent me letters about it. They don’t share Prof. Richardson’s desire to see all things through President Biden’s eyes. I’m not looking forward to a wildcat railroad strike but too much is at stake here for all Americans: I hope those 4 stalwart unions risk everything and conduct one.
And management dances away with nary a care in the world. It’s not just the railroad workers, it’s all of us. These trains are speeding bombs with precious little control. What could go wrong…. Linda Blue told us above, for starters…
Jeri, you are precisely correct about speeding bombs, a compelling reason for health safeguards similar to what we recognize as necessary for airline pilots and crew since the development of that sector of the transportation industry.
It's clear that safely and health are not top priorities for any of the greeds running businesses. I might add that the gun issue clearly demonstrates that this talk about valuing life is just talk. Here in Oregon we are having problems getting the gun control measure off the ground. Some of it is understandable nobody, notably LE was ready to do what they are required to do even if they actually want to follow the law. The part on the size of magazines can be implanted immediately.
This story should have been told at the hearings. I’m sure there are many more like it. 12 companies is too small I think. There’s not enough competition between companies. So concentrated that we are vulnerable to a strike and shutdowns. It’s not Capitalism, it’s a concentration of wealth and power at the top. Ours is a corptocracy another form of oligarchy.
This is not capitalism. It is a concentration of wealth and control over workers at the top. Capitalism, correctly run, would pay workers what they are worth. Without workers nothing happens. We need to start paying workers what they are worth. If we did that, strikes wouldn’t happen.
Unrestrained unregulated capitalism breeds monopolies. Monopolies can collude to treat all workers the same. In a competitive market, there would be more RR’s. The best lead RR would treat workers as their #1 resource. Pay and conditions would be attractive enough to attract the best and brightest workers. This RR would have an advantage as valued workers would seek to solve problems and keep efficiency high. High levels of respect and feeling valued is a competitive advantage. In monopolies we don’t see any of that, thus a Nation wide strike.
Through mutual friends, a man I knew decades ago was one of the engineers responsible for a fatal freight train accident; he also died. He had told me several years earlier about the crazy work shifts that they had no control over, and how often he would be called back into work 8 hours after returning home, and only a few hours of sleep. Thank you for sharing this heartbreaking story about your patient. Where is our humanity?
Linda, I was glad that HCR in today's Letter did not exonerate the rail carriers or praise where this strike settlement left many of the rail workers. Out of personal weakness, I did not search for resources that would spell out what our capitalism has wrought on regular working people. I won't drag out the data indicating that 1% of our population owns more than a third of the country's wealth. The rail industry and the workers are part of that horrific equation.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge, personal experience and pain with us.
My heart aches for her, and I wonder how she is doing today. Yes, these stories should be brought to light. I'm sure there must be more over the years. It is a dangerous job, like coal miners have worked in extremely dangerous conditions, like medical people working with sick patients for long hours, with no breaks, and a health risk to them and their families....I could go on and on. Not to mention the military men and women of the world, who have given their lives or body parts. :(
Linda, THANK YOU for the important work you do to help make people whole again. How hard even for you to carry so many burdens on your shoulders....not an easy job, but so important!!
As you said it's criminal. Not just to the workers, also to all of us traveling on trains with exhausted engineers and railroad staff. It is a national problem, all of us are in peril while we keep making money for the companies.
Excellent analysis of this situation. Thank you, Heather. I still think Joe should have wrangled with owners over the sick leave before forcing the imposition of this contract, which is despicable for its lack of sick leave. I fear he leaves the impression he’s siding with owners over workers, which is exactly the wrong thing to have happen when the GOP is doing everything it can to win over workers. Well, everything it can short of actually doing anything for them!
I’m sure splitting the bill into two different votes was a Pelosi idea to give the bulk of the bill a chance to pass, while revealing for all the world to see who was against the 7 days of paid sick leave. That’s exactly how it played out.
Mara, I think you are probably right about Pelosi's stance on this. It is so unfortunate that just 8 more senators did not have enough compassion to vote for the 2nd bill, overcoming any filibuster and ensuring the 7 paid sick days!
I applaud the 5 democratic senators who voted against the 1st bill, seeing what would be the outcome.
It's more than greed. It's avarice: extreme greed for wealth or material gain. And, unfortunately, it's admired in many circles. But the bosses of the mistreated railroad workers — and other like them — should be ostracized. Not providing adequate benefits is simply immoral.
This negotiation has brought back a really sad memory for me. I was working in an acute psychiatric hospital at the time a woman came in after attempting suicide. About 9 months earlier there had been a head on collision of two trains. The guys responsible forgot to switch the tracks, and one of the engineers had fallen asleep (this was all found out in the investigation). The women who was brought in was the wife of one of the men blamed. After her husband died she had to go to work to support her kids after they lost their home. Her mother moved in to their trailer home to help with the kids while she worked the night shift at a truck stop. While she was at work her trailer caught fire while the family was asleep and her mother and kids all died. Within one year she had lost all of her family. As her therapist I was at a total loss of any words that could comfort her and help her to find a reason for not giving up. Not long after the investigation blamed her husband and the other man for the devastation. The train companies were totally absolved of any blame and the insurance covered all the damages. And now all these years later these corporations are pushing for an even lower level of staff who provide such an important role, and now even when they are sick and exhausted. That these companies are allowed to treat workers this way is criminal. I wish the workers would strike. Their Christmas will not be happy and bright.
Root cause analysis: Understaffing
Cut jobs but demand increased productivity and profits
This has been occurring in America for decades as workers spend 50/60 hours a week on the job or “on call” trying to prove their value to management. Its all tacitly voluntary and expected, but America is working itself to death in terms of undue stress causing medical issues. And when you die the death of a plowhorse, they replace you
Our priority? Don’t let gas prices, Happy Meals or Wallmart trinkets rise, right?
America needs an attitude adjustment
Understaffing goes in many places of employment. The first one I think is long term care facilities like nursing homes. My mother's facility had 4 staffers on the floor to care for residents, many of them no longer able to walk. One of the four was the med tech, giving out medicines. So three staffers had 45 people to care for, plus serve meals. The far off corporate owner was much more interested in profits than people. Little concern for the residents and less for the staff.
Been There - Seen That. I was a CNA who worked in Nursing Homes & Hospitals. The hospital was OK, it was a teaching hospital at a large university and had student nurses filling for Nursing Assistants in clinicals. But the long-term care facilities often had unreasonable managerial expectations of the staff.
I had to stay in a nursing facility for 20 days. An utter nightmare. Only "nurses" could do certain things, had to wait almost two hours before one showed up to help adjust my bandages easing pain. I'm disabled (paralyzed) and they left me unassisted, nearly fell to the floor. Would have broken a hip or something. Severely understaffed. Never again will I go there.
Another been there, seen that, the high staff turnover is understandable.
Is.
Right. And when anyone makes even a baby step toward rectifying the wrongs, we blame them for the problem ... why wait on the overworked, underpaid employees to strike - when will "WE THE PEOPLE" of consumer society step up and refuse to consume the fruits of such inequitable conditions?!
What?! Tighten my belt?! I got rid of that years ago ... won't fit anymore!!
... see, rabid consumerism fueled by All American Game-Time USA breeds an unbridled appetite for IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION ... like the push button automatic drive - who needs a clutch anymore (until heavy snow and ice descend) ... anybody know how to jump-start this thing?! Quick, easy answers looking for someone to blame for the slippery slide downhill ... thankfully, those people on the ground who keep working for real change PERSIST:
"Rail labor leaders continue the fight today for job security, better working conditions, fair wages and benefits, improved safety conditions and elimination of massive cutbacks.
"The benevolent society that started with a few trackmen on a hot July day in Alabama has shown that it can meet the challenges and problems of an ever-changing industry and will continue to protect its members' rights as it has for more than a century."
*****
The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (BMWED)
https://www.bmwe.org/secondary.aspx?id=22
"The history of the advance and growth of American railroads is an episode in the saga of a people's restless urge to explore and to move on. Heeding that urge, these people expanded into the far corners of the North American Continent, moving as slow or as fast as their means of transportation allowed. This movement began in earnest only after the railroad's steel web was spun from coast-to-coast. Once the rail system was established, the great construction gangs began to settle down and maintain that which they had built. But, while the robber barons of the early railroads amassed great fortunes, their employees worked from dawn to dusk for pennies a day without insurance, vacations or means of support after years of hard work. It was these conditions that inspired early rail workers to organize collectively and form unions to protect their common interests.
"One such union was the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes (BMWE). The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes - later to become the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (BMWED) - is a national union representing the workers who build and maintain the tracks, bridges, buildings and other structures on the railroads of the United States. Founded in 1887, at Demopolis, Alabama, as a fraternal organization by Track Foreman John T. Wilson, the BMWED membership forms a cross section of American culture. Their goals, interests and political backgrounds are as diversified as their heritage. Once an International union with over 350,000 members in the United States and Canada, automation, the rise of the trucking and airline industries, coupled with the policies of a conservative government, has depleted the ranks of the BMWED to under 40,000 members. Since the passage of the Staggers Rail Act of 1978, railroad management, using competition as an excuse and the anti-union climate as an ally, has been selling or abandoning the nation's rail system. Realizing that our country is losing a vital link in its transportation network, the BMWED struggles to reverse this trend. Using our rich history as a guide - drawing on the strength of the union - we confront management in the halls of Congress and the State Legislatures, through use of our newspaper the BMWED Journal, the nation's court system and at the bargaining tables.
"It was in 2004 that the BMWE merged with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and consolidated its strength with that of the powerful 1.4 million member Teamster Union. As a part of the Teamster Rail Division the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division continues the battle that John T. Wilson courageously fought in the face of so much opposition.
*****
"Rail labor leaders continue the fight today for job security, better working conditions, fair wages and benefits, improved safety conditions and elimination of massive cutbacks.
"The benevolent society that started with a few trackmen on a hot July day in Alabama has shown that it can meet the challenges and problems of an ever-changing industry and will continue to protect its members' rights as it has for more than a century."
*****
History of Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes: Its Birth and Growth - 1887 to 1955
http://www.bmwe.org/cms/file/01172018_131338_brotherhood_book2018.pdf
*****
History of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzRnRq9GAiI&t=
*****
“The Calcium Light, Turned on by a Railway Trackman” - Written by John T. Wilson (1902) (First BMWED President)
http://www.bmwe.org/cms/file/03152017_084726_calciumlightturn00wils.pdf
*****
Accomplishments
Right of Representation
Rules Agreements
Overtime Pay
Unemployment Benefits
Paid Vacations
Union Shop
Off-Track Vehicle Accident Insurance Coverage
Accidental Death, Dismemberment and Loss of Sight Benefits
Job Security
Health Insurance
Checkoff of Dues
Dental Insurance
Bereavement Leave
Protection against Discrimination
Eight-hour day
Retirement Benefits
Sickness benefits
Forty-hour Week
Holiday Pay
Life Insurance
Improved Wage Rates
Travel Time and Away-From-Home Expenses
Jury Duty Pay
Supplemental Sickness Benefits
Early Retiree Major Medical Benefits
Personal Leave
https://www.bmwe.org/secondary.aspx?id=22
Thanks for all this information! This is a prime example of the benefits of being a subscriber to Dr Richardson’s newsletter--all that I learn from fellow subscribers!
I agree! I have learned so much from being a subscriber and just reading the comments from so many other subcribers. You all have become my friends and I look forward to mornings to hear from you all! Have a wonderful December day. Hugs to all!
Yes!
A thorough, persuasive and articulate recounting of a complicated history Kathleen!
I would, however, place it in an even broader context, or at least Yuval Noah Harari did in his book Sapiens (2015) wherein he describes our last great age as the Age of Industrialization. He locates the beginning of this age in the early 1820's as the government set a standard time (Greenwich Mean Time or GMT) so that England's nascent railroad industry could schedule and predict when trains would arrive at the various towns along their routes, towns which each had their own rough estimate of time. As a previously largely agrarian society, they hadn't needed much regular clock time as the rising and setting the sun dictated much of their daily activity. This Age of Industrialization also marked when governments began to legislate changes in law in support of industry and the individual's capacity to move around necessary for trains (and factories, etc) vs historical reliance on families and close communities to maintain survival, health and societal organization. It would seem that trend has continued even with the laws via which the current administration must work.
So true, John - and see how disassociated we have become from core health accordingly - who can afford to lose track of time - to breathe freely - feel life waters flowing through with every breath ... no, better run to the hospital - feed that industry with our life blood - oh, who can afford that - better keep that job, chained to the timeclock - even if it kills you - can you even afford insurance to cover the cost of your very expensive burial ...?
*****
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuZEoIBxFiE&t=7s
Very expensive burial
Thanks for your insights...SAPIENS...just added to my reading list
Yes indeed - thank you John, another must read:
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Part of: A Brief History Series (2 books)
by Yuval Noah Harari
https://www.amazon.com/Sapiens-Humankind-Yuval-Noah-Harari/dp/0062316095
"From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.”
"One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us?
"Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas.
"Dr. Harari also compels us to look ahead, because over the last few decades humans have begun to bend laws of natural selection that have governed life for the past four billion years. We are acquiring the ability to design not only the world around us, but also ourselves. Where is this leading us, and what do we want to become?
"Featuring 27 photographs, 6 maps, and 25 illustrations/diagrams, this provocative and insightful work is sure to spark debate and is essential reading for aficionados of Jared Diamond, James Gleick, Matt Ridley, Robert Wright, and Sharon Moalem."
fascinating book, great writer
And l, our consumerism is driving the global temperature well past 2.0°.
You know what's missing from that extensive list? ADEQUATE STAFFING! If the companies hired and trained enough people to fully staff the work, there would be fewer injuries, deaths, human misery, stress, and the goods and people being moved would actually be safer and on time. What is wrong with these companies? Warren Buffet, we're looking at you.
Thank you for the little-known information. I really appreciate it.
"America needs an attitude adjustment" is an understatement Dave. When did money become more important than people's lives? PSR should've never been allowed at the worker's expense. I understand why many of them feel betrayed by Biden. It was a tough decision to avoid a strike, but at the worker's expense. Where's the compassion, empathy, Gratitude? And as Linda pointed out, it has devastating effects, not just for the workers, but also their families. And result in long lasting health issues. I say strike and let everyone feel their (workers) value, necessity and importance. These workers are slaves to their masters and they're paying for this treatment in union dues. Wake up America.
The real problem faced by Biden is the reality that the strike position threatens the health of entirety of the people in the US and it guarantees the collaspe of the economy in ways that will perpetuate itself long after the strike is settled
This is not a black and white decision. Its one that requires hard choices with many complicated results. Its not the domain of weak decision makers
IMO, keeps the railroads running now, address the complicated issues at once, but do not expect immediate remedy given the Manchin’s involved. Its a tough slog
What is black and white is that the RR’s have too much concentrated power, and this makes the whole country vulnerable. The RR’s are too big and there is not enough overlap competition.We need more information from the workers. Where are the stories of what RR workers are forced to endure. By threatening to strike we know current conditions are not sustainable, so this issue will return again.
Ted. The media needs to research and expose the employees' issues, the railroad company concerns - perhaps in the form of a Michael Moore-type documentary film. It seems the country is laying responsibility at the feet of the workers while managenent decisions are behind this supply train crisis. Now is the time for a close examination of balance between labor and management, in so many sectors. The next crisis is barrelling down the tracks ..
I think media wont do this. Why upset one of their customers? Yes, Moore or Frontline could do a great job of this.
Im thinking this is just another case of gov to friendly with the RR Lobby, and over time, we just dont see the monopolies power grow untill this threat of strike threatens the entire econmy. Its just crazy that any industry can not have sick days and during a Pandemic. It is unacceptable. Just like the FDA is with Sugar Producers Lobby...making it okay to add excess sugar to just about every food causing an obesity epidemic. Pharmacy lobby keeping insulin prices high and the Opiod crisis was caused when by the Pharm Lobby led the FDA to changing laws that moved Oxycotin out of its addictive classification allowing for over prescriptions throwing many communities into a public health crisis. Lobbyist, oligarchy, monopolies, Corptocracy....they all run in the same shoes causing so many problems for everyone, banking record profits, stock buybacks, increasing wealth inequality at a scale rivalling and surpassing the 1920's. Enough is enough.
The problem is getting RR employees to talk in public about the issues. They will be targeted for termination if they do. That’s why most of the talking comes from union officials.
As a railroad employee, the biggest issue is quality of life. Employees in unassigned service (on call 24/7) have no scheduled off days. They are only off if the RR doesn’t call them to work of if they’ve worked several days in a row (usually 6 or 7 days). These employees base their lives around train lineups, which are always inaccurate. When I was in unassigned service, it was normal for the lineup to show I wasn’t getting called for a couple of days only to get a middle of the night call to go to work immediately. If we aren’t properly rested because of bad lineups, management doesn’t care. If we tell them we can’t work because we aren’t rested, we get threatened with discipline. That is just one issue. I can go on all day.
These are the stories/experiences that the American people need to hear.
Unfortunately, you could say the same thing about every corporation in the country right now. We allowed the evisceration of Monopoly laws in this country. It won’t be remedied easily.
Exactly! 100%. I think it starts with repeal of Citizens United. Draw down the $ spent on elections, this makes elected officials answer to their consitutents that are real persons first and foremost.
Praying for Warnoch, and Manchin losing some clout
Always at the expense of the workers - labor - 'the beasts of burden', animals, such as a mule or donkey, that is used for carrying loads. Your explanation, Dave, did not in my opinion resolve the power of the very few over the rest of us. It's not Democracy in this country with such an economic inequality formula.
I hope the workers throw a wildcat strike. If the railways are so important they can damn well afford to provide decent hours, pay, and benefits to their workers. American labour laws (and most of the rest of their laws) are at best 19th century compared to the rest of the world. The wealth of nations and the wealth of capitalists are diametrically opposed.
…and scheduling Allen. The rail workers in some job functions could not lead a healthy life or have time with the family -- no exaggeration here!
I'd finish that sentence differently: "If the railways are so important . . ." they should be nationalized or at least heavily regulated.
If I had some brilliant resolution, I’d be directing traffic on a national scale. We live in a society driven by outcomes. Profit is easy to measure. Quality of life is not
There exists a balancing act in determining what is in the best interest overall; that decision making requires pragmatism. That comes at some expense
The power of the very few is not new. Its an historic reality. Chipping away at that power through social safety nets is an evolutionary process. Idealism is good but never implementable in total. Its the gray stuff in the middle that counts and the “pragmatic” are usually attacked by both extremes. Leaders must be pragmatic in any Democracy which means ghey must live in the messy gray
If you have an implementable solution that doesn’t shut down the economy as well as insulin shipments, I’m all ears
Since the railroads were a national construct and have grown to crippling gigantism the answer lies necessarily in nationalizing the behemoth, as do many other publicly damaging industries. Perhaps the time has come to limit the size of titans to keep them from overwhelming the public good. Call me any name you like, just let us please not continue to privatize things like the military, prisons, mail delivery, and needed healthcare. As a case in point I don’t think gazillionaires like Musk should be allowed to buy the U.S.Air Force. Any such industries should be incorporated in the public domain as they attain size critical to the function of the nation.
Yes, this is the problem. RRs carry vital supplies necessary to the health of many people including chemicals to purify the water supply. i would hope that with a strike averted for now, that work on a better solution for the workers begins immediately. Greed, as usual, is running this scenario for now in terms of the rail owners. I have tried to shut out the consumerism of the season as well. I am still reading the book about Miriam Leslie who ran her husband's publishing business in NYC after he died. A lot of it describes what was going on in the city, in the government, etc. it sounds familiar to certain things happening now.
Dave, The unions have some legitimate demands; they are not radical. Profit, in the way that capitalism has jumped the rails in the US provides 1% of Americans more than a third of the country's wealth. 'Balancing', Dave, no kidding! To quote you, '...determining what is in the best interest overall; that decision making requires pragmatism'. 'Overall' benefit". Really, Dave, I'd welcome the data for that.
'In the second quarter of 2022, 68 percent of the total wealth in the United States was owned by the top 10 percent of earners. In comparison, the lowest 50 percent of earners only owned 3.2 percent of the total wealth.' (statista)
'Most Americans favor raising the federal minimum wage, which has been $7.25 an hour since 2009. About six-in-ten adults (62%), including majorities in nearly every demographic group, support increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Even among the 38% of Americans who oppose a $15 minimum, most say they’d support a smaller increase, according to an April Pew Research Center survey.'
'Real median U.S. household income was $70,784 in 2021, statistically unchanged from the previous year, although income inequality increased for the first time since 2011, according to U.S. Census Bureau release of the Income in the United States: 2021 report.'
According to the Census Bureau 'Declines in real income at the bottom of the income distribution resulted in increased income inequality as measured by the Gini index — a common measure of income inequality.'
I'm not speaking as an idealist, and your 'pragmatism' in my opinion favors management over labor; the Ultra rich v. the rest of us. I think David, while believing that you favor the most pragmatic way to solve the equation of extreme economic inequality in US, your way in my estimation is at the expense of most people.
F**k pragmatism. It is why American cant have nice things. Shutting down the economy is what the Republicans are going to do. Clean out the DNC. Stop called Corporate Dems moderates and start voting for Progressives. Their "radical" agenda works well in the rest of the democratic developed countries.
Capitalism = exploitation.
Dave, agree with your solution of keeping the railroads running, and continue to hammer out a solution of this complicated issue.
But as we keep the railroads running and this crisis is resolved (temporarily), will anyone follow up to resolve these very issues for the RR workers? Who will keep this issue on the front page? The workers are giving up their lives - what are the RR execs giving up?
It was once said by a former Chief of Staff (to the President) that all the decisions that reach the President are hard, because the easy ones gets solved before they get there.
This one must've hurt Biden to the marrow, but he did what the nation needed.
As idealists argue for the perfect solution, blaming decision makers (Biden) for taking an imperfect one, it occurs to me that some people may have never been forced to make an imperfect decision and have no empathy for the heart wrenching agony of those who must make hard choices knowing that whatever decision they make, people are going to be harmed
Here’s a question I’d like the idealists to answer, “Did General Eisenhower make a good decision when he gave the go ahead for D Day?”
Great leaders suffer the costs of their pragmatism
Why are you labeling those who disagree with you 'idealists'? Some of us think of ourselves as realists, democrats, liberals, progressives, idealists, socialists, independents, fair minded human beings...
Had all the important options been examined by Biden and the Department of Transportation before the welfare of a segment of rail workers was left to the discretion of the rail carriers? Think about it for a minute. I don't know all the ways in addition to making stronger demands on the rail carriers with reference to workers' work schedules and healthcare costs. Another subscriber raised an important issue:
Linda Mitchell, KCMO:
'One of the problems with rail transportation in the USA that HCR did not mention: almost all the track in the US is owned by one company--CSX. It dominates the entire industry and also controls passenger rail service because it can nix the development of new passenger services on the basis that freight has to take precedence. Unless the CSX monopoly is broken (and they make a hella lot of money while being dangerously blasé about their employees) nothing will change. And they have a lot at stake to prevent that from happening.'
I'm guessing there are still other possible options to scrutinize before the rail workers were nailed to the tracks.
If the US government, instead of interceding at this time, had chosen to file an antitrust suit against CSX, who could shut down all the trains, the damage to a fragile economy would be much worse.
The CSX monopoly an issue to be addressed. This many not be the right time to do so.
Dave, as you can surmise, I don't buy into your position. There are some who know a good deal about American Capitalism and what it has been doing to many Americans and our grand experiment with democracy.
'The Averted National Rail Strike Is a Parable of Contemporary American Capitalism'
'Railroads are prioritizing payments to Wall Street stockholders over everything else, including serving the public interest.'
By John Cassidy
'In our click-driven world, the threatened strike at America’s freight railroads, and President Biden’s intervention to prevent it, represents last week’s news. But there are two groups for which the averted strike is still very much front and center: the hundred and fifteen thousand rail workers who will be forced to work under the terms of the contract agreement that the White House and Congress imposed upon them after some rail unions rebuffed a deal mediated by the Administration, and the managers and owners of the railroads, who will get back to running what, these days, is an immensely lucrative, and suspiciously monopolistic, business.'
'Much of the news coverage of the contract dispute focussed on the railroads’ refusal to grant their workers paid sick leave. But this intransigence was only one aspect of a larger parable of modern American capitalism. Unfolding in one of the country’s oldest and most far-flung industries, it is a story of deregulation, consolidation, downsizing, under-investment, and intensification of work practices. Most of all, though, it is a story of financialization, and of prioritizing payments to wealthy stockholders over everything else, including serving the public interest.'
'During the lockdowns early in the coronavirus pandemic, the railroads accelerated their job cuts and capacity reductions. When demand rebounded last year, many shippers faced chronic delays, cancellations, and, in one case, a temporary suspension of service on key routes between the West Coast and Chicago. “Freight-railroad service is abysmal,” Representative Peter DeFazio, the chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, complained, at a hearing earlier this year. “This appalling service is forcing shippers to recoup their extra costs downstream and Americans are paying for it—with increased food costs and at the gas pump.”
'The modern rail-freight industry dates back to 1980, when Congress partially dismantled a strict system of regulation that had been introduced in the late nineteenth century following a catalogue of abuses by the companies of the original railroad barons, men like Jay Gould, James Hill, and Edward Henry Harriman. The Staggers Rail Act of 1980—named after the Democratic congressman Harley O. Staggers, Sr.—gave the railroads much more freedom to run their operations, including closing down unprofitable lines and setting their own freight rates, which the federal government had previously determined through the Interstate Commerce Commission. For a time, deregulation appeared to work as planned. Thanks to healthy competition in many areas, prices fell and shipments increased. After decades of losing out to trucking, the rail industry started to win back market share, which was good news for its workers and owners, and for the environment. (Rail transportation is much less carbon-intensive than trucking.)'
'Similarly to what happened in the decades after the Carter Administration deregulated the airline industry, the era of vigorous rail competition gradually gave way to consolidation and tacit collusion. After a long series of mergers, there are now just seven large, or Class I, railroads, compared to thirty-three in 1980, and between them they control more than eighty per cent of the freight market. “CSX and Norfolk Southern have a duopoly on traffic east of Chicago, while Union Pacific and BNSF have a duopoly on traffic west of Chicago,” Matthew Jinoo Buck, a senior fellow at the American Liberties Project, pointed out, in an illuminating article for *The American Prospect *earlier this year. “Canadian Pacific, Canadian National, and Kansas City Southern run much traffic going north-south through the Midwest.”
'Rather than expanding their operations for a greener age, the big railroads have been doing what unregulated or lightly regulated monopolists (and duopolists) tend to do: rationalizing their operations, reducing their work forces, and charging prices well above their costs. According to the Surface Transportation Board, which replaced the defunct Interstate Commerce Commission in 1996, inflation-adjusted freight rates have risen by thirty per cent since 2004, and over-all freight traffic—in terms of carloads and tonnages—has been declining since 2006. In recent years, the industry has slashed its workforce by roughly a third. “Operating the railroads with that many fewer employees makes it difficult to avoid cuts in service, provide more reliable service, and reduce poor on-time performance that does not compete well with trucks.” Martin J. Oberman, the current chair of the Surface Transportation Board, noted, in a speech last year.' (NewYorker) Link to complete article is below.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-averted-national-rail-strike-is-a-parable ... -
What does all that have to do with what I said regarding decision making and pragmatism?
…and timing, too. How long ago if ever will this country take necessary steps to stop the transfer of wealth to the ultra wealthy and begin to rectify the extreme inequality of wealth here?
I linked three pieces from Robert Reich that you might appreciate. The last is a videotape.
https://robertreich.org/post/666874177346797568
https://inthesetimes.com/article/robert-reich-elon-musk-capitalism-inequality-wealth-tax
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z1iToALkzE
Tell that to republicans, oh no, never blame the perpetrators of the problem. Dems can keep handling the vitriol. Republicans love it, Hawley really does
... understaffing on one side of the coin - overstuffing on the other ...
Agreed 100%. This has been going on at least since Reagan. More work, no increase in pay or benefits. It's disgusting!
Add to your list: don’t let profits decline even a teensy weensy bit.
Indeed Dave Dalton -> "Root cause analysis: Understaffing". I could and would argue for a far harsher, less politically correct defining word: "Greed" vs Human / humane realities. Greed wins another, and this has played out for decades upon decades, in fact grossly accelerating since about 1981. I have a personally lived story not too much unlike the poignant truths told by our contributor Linda Blue - different corporate giants, different unions, but the resultant outcomes no less traumatic and life altering. Someday, I'll be called on to tell those true stories, is my greatest hope. In the mean time my daily task is to find some semblance of sanity and serenity - in the name of self preservation, to acknowledge and try to accept, that small i, have little to no control of people, places, things outside of myself and my reactions to those 'things' I can't control.
I do not disagree re greed, but that seems not specific enough to the railroad issue
My experience in America is that management will pile on tasks until the worker is overwhelmed. Our culture is such that employees will find ways to increase their output via extra hours (many times voluntary for salaried employees) as management pushes for more
Until Covid, employers had the upper hand in terms of “if you don’t perform, there’s ten people behind you who will”. Covid changed that. Supply of labor is at a premium right now. Workers have “some” leverage at this point. The wheel turns slowly
My point is that, as I read the indignation towards Biden regarding the 4 rail unions (out of 12), I’m thinking that any action he might take will criticized, so he has to act like Solomon and lead. Some people raise issue with his decision but fail to acknowledge that he is not a King. His power is limited by law, as it should be. His responsibility is to the country, not individual special interests
The situation is difficult. He moved business and labor back to the table to find compromise. Some didn’t like the result and blame him. I think he played the cards he was dealt the best anyone could
No one is offering a better course of action here except those holding a Royal Flush, which Biden was not dealt
In this case, pragmatism is how the world of reality works. And so, some people complain and others recognize the limitation of our laws and culture
Yes. We consumers run the show and we seem mostly unconcerned about the plight of those who provide us with our goods and services.
Yup, as they say in AA, where so many wind up,
"It's a save your own ass program."
This is indeed part of the problem. We personally are very concerned about those people who provide goods and services, but the pandemic showed us just how awful a large part of the population can be when they don't get what they want asap or even have the minor inconvenience of wearing a mask which we still do when going inside stores. We make an effort to buy locally and tip generously.
❗️❗️❗️
There is a maximum number of hours truckers can be on the road, which is still high enough for the drivers to fall asleep. There is no reason there can't be a minimum staffing requirement on trains--1 individual for every mile of train, as an example.
It's like basic common sense ends where profits begin.
Railroads have been trying to hire. The problem is that railroads want to eliminate the conductor position and are in negotiations to do just that on a couple of railroads. Other railroads will do the same as soon as they can. Train service employees hire out as conductors, then promote to engineer. So when a railroad hire a group of new contractors, the new employees find out during their training the the position they were just hired for is temporary since that job is in negotiations to be eliminated. Most are quitting before they complete training to go find a permanent job. Where I work, management tried to hire a group of 15. Only one completed the training.
So well put: “attitude adjustment.” As one of the last remembering WWII, I plead for rationing and price controls (climate change and food prices must ALWAYS be linked), smaller and fewer cars, more public transportation. It’s survival for the species - the big picture, America!
Indeed
Linda, that is such a touching story that humanizes this issue. Why doesn’t that story make headlines?
Professor Richardson noted that Elizabeth Warren opposed the measure. She’s smart and compassionate. I would love to hear the compromise she would have voted for.
It doesn't make headlines for the same reasons President Biden's accomplishments have gotten short shrift...the media by and large are creatures of the same corporate culture and untold hours of airtime and columns of print are devoted to the latest idiocy by tfg.
Yes, I saw that Elizabeth Warren opposed the bill along with Bernie Sanders which gives me pause to think. I, too, would like to hear the compromise that they
would have supported.
I think mainstream media is in the pockets of their corporate owners. The goal is to make money for shareholders and all those 401Ks. News gatherers read and regurgitate the news releases and stats they receive from corporate PR departments and go home. By and large the once indispensable 4th estate no longer watches out for the little guy. I read newsletters like this one to gain understanding. It helps me be an informed voter.
Media doesn’t want to upset their customers, the Railroads.
Go to their web pages. They have both sent me letters about it. They don’t share Prof. Richardson’s desire to see all things through President Biden’s eyes. I’m not looking forward to a wildcat railroad strike but too much is at stake here for all Americans: I hope those 4 stalwart unions risk everything and conduct one.
It doesn’t make headlines because the mainstream media is owned by immoral billionaires!
And management dances away with nary a care in the world. It’s not just the railroad workers, it’s all of us. These trains are speeding bombs with precious little control. What could go wrong…. Linda Blue told us above, for starters…
Jeri, you are precisely correct about speeding bombs, a compelling reason for health safeguards similar to what we recognize as necessary for airline pilots and crew since the development of that sector of the transportation industry.
It's clear that safely and health are not top priorities for any of the greeds running businesses. I might add that the gun issue clearly demonstrates that this talk about valuing life is just talk. Here in Oregon we are having problems getting the gun control measure off the ground. Some of it is understandable nobody, notably LE was ready to do what they are required to do even if they actually want to follow the law. The part on the size of magazines can be implanted immediately.
This story should have been told at the hearings. I’m sure there are many more like it. 12 companies is too small I think. There’s not enough competition between companies. So concentrated that we are vulnerable to a strike and shutdowns. It’s not Capitalism, it’s a concentration of wealth and power at the top. Ours is a corptocracy another form of oligarchy.
This:
"It’s not Capitalism, it’s a concentration of wealth and power at the top. Ours is a corptocracy another form of oligarchy."
This is not capitalism. It is a concentration of wealth and control over workers at the top. Capitalism, correctly run, would pay workers what they are worth. Without workers nothing happens. We need to start paying workers what they are worth. If we did that, strikes wouldn’t happen.
Yes, but it's more than wages, it's benefits (e.g., sick leave) and working conditions that respect workers, not demean them.
Unrestrained unregulated capitalism breeds monopolies. Monopolies can collude to treat all workers the same. In a competitive market, there would be more RR’s. The best lead RR would treat workers as their #1 resource. Pay and conditions would be attractive enough to attract the best and brightest workers. This RR would have an advantage as valued workers would seek to solve problems and keep efficiency high. High levels of respect and feeling valued is a competitive advantage. In monopolies we don’t see any of that, thus a Nation wide strike.
I ordered this book a couple days ago. Thanks for the warning.
Through mutual friends, a man I knew decades ago was one of the engineers responsible for a fatal freight train accident; he also died. He had told me several years earlier about the crazy work shifts that they had no control over, and how often he would be called back into work 8 hours after returning home, and only a few hours of sleep. Thank you for sharing this heartbreaking story about your patient. Where is our humanity?
Linda, I was glad that HCR in today's Letter did not exonerate the rail carriers or praise where this strike settlement left many of the rail workers. Out of personal weakness, I did not search for resources that would spell out what our capitalism has wrought on regular working people. I won't drag out the data indicating that 1% of our population owns more than a third of the country's wealth. The rail industry and the workers are part of that horrific equation.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge, personal experience and pain with us.
What a terrible thing. No words really.
My heart aches for her, and I wonder how she is doing today. Yes, these stories should be brought to light. I'm sure there must be more over the years. It is a dangerous job, like coal miners have worked in extremely dangerous conditions, like medical people working with sick patients for long hours, with no breaks, and a health risk to them and their families....I could go on and on. Not to mention the military men and women of the world, who have given their lives or body parts. :(
Linda, THANK YOU for the important work you do to help make people whole again. How hard even for you to carry so many burdens on your shoulders....not an easy job, but so important!!
Beyond tragic...the knee of management on the necks of the workers...does not allow for choice...just sayin'
This is so flippin' sad ... tell the story - spread the word ... who really pays for my over-indulgent, ever-expanding inflated sense of opportunity?!
((Stick a pin in this delusional balloon and watch it fly all over like an aerodynamic fart!!))
As you said it's criminal. Not just to the workers, also to all of us traveling on trains with exhausted engineers and railroad staff. It is a national problem, all of us are in peril while we keep making money for the companies.
Excellent analysis of this situation. Thank you, Heather. I still think Joe should have wrangled with owners over the sick leave before forcing the imposition of this contract, which is despicable for its lack of sick leave. I fear he leaves the impression he’s siding with owners over workers, which is exactly the wrong thing to have happen when the GOP is doing everything it can to win over workers. Well, everything it can short of actually doing anything for them!
I’m sure splitting the bill into two different votes was a Pelosi idea to give the bulk of the bill a chance to pass, while revealing for all the world to see who was against the 7 days of paid sick leave. That’s exactly how it played out.
Mara, I think you are probably right about Pelosi's stance on this. It is so unfortunate that just 8 more senators did not have enough compassion to vote for the 2nd bill, overcoming any filibuster and ensuring the 7 paid sick days!
I applaud the 5 democratic senators who voted against the 1st bill, seeing what would be the outcome.
That’s the best argument for nationalizing the railroads that I’ve heard.
Profit over people. It never ends.
This article today from The New Yorker nails it.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-averted-national-rail-strike-is-a-parable-of-contemporary-american-capitalism?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Cassidy_12062022&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&bxid=5bda46d82ddf9c5063632a78&user_id=4834735&hasha=6bc4acec739a99379009a22dc7b04756&hashb=8b7be9c2064cd37a60cc74ff463598ba123b6eb7&hashc=006dd0bda2cdc65ae5db17df3779ace218c5fc8b6792be68eb155b714facfe6b&esrc=subscribe-page&utm_term=TNY_Cassidy
Oh Linda. I live in the PNW and know what you're talking about. So terribly sad and awful.
I can’t really say that I liked your comment. Who would. But your comment is truth.
It's more than greed. It's avarice: extreme greed for wealth or material gain. And, unfortunately, it's admired in many circles. But the bosses of the mistreated railroad workers — and other like them — should be ostracized. Not providing adequate benefits is simply immoral.