In accordance with the IAM Constitution and as noted in this letter, their monthly per capita tax is increased by using the average of the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) as published by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Canadian […]
Month: December 2022
RAILROADS RIDING HIGH AFTER VICTORY AGAINST WORKERS
In the aftermath of the congressional contract fight, two major railroads are pursuing a merger and a third is retaliating against a worker for organizing. By Ryan Grim for theintercept.com FRESH OFF A victory against workers demanding sick days as part of recent contract negotiations, two major railroads are pursuing a merger and a third, owned […]
Union Pacific railroad puts its shipping limits on hold
By JOSH FUNK for apnews.com OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Union Pacific says it will stop imposing temporary limits on certain businesses’ shipments while it reviews the policy that federal regulators and shippers criticized at a hearing last week. Union Pacific has put more than 1,000 of these embargoes in place this year — significantly more […]
Rail industry must overcome strained labor relations in order to survive
‘We want to see attrition rates and quality of life improved’ By Joanna Marsh for freightwaves.com The drama about whether union members would go on strike has passed, with Congress passing legislation and President Joe Biden signing that legislation requiring all unions to ratify the labor agreement that union and railroad negotiators reached in September. But the battle […]
Unions, rails clash over hiring data as Union Pacific faces regulatory heat in Washington
By Lori Ann LaRocco for cnbc.com KEY POINTS The strike was averted, but tensions between unions and class I freight railroads continue to run high. Union Pacific’s use of embargoes, a freight railroad practice in which trade is stopped in order to clear up congestion, is at the center of a two-day hearing at the […]
U.S. lawmakers urge Biden to guarantee rail workers’ sick leave
By David Shepardson for reuters.com More than 70 lawmakers including Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Friday urged President Joe Biden to take executive action to guarantee rail workers paid sick days. On Dec. 2, Biden signed legislation to block a national U.S. railroad strike that could have devastated the American economy after some […]
Is it time for new railroad rules? Critics say U.S. train industry is in crisis
BY KEVIN HARDY AND DANIEL DESROCHERS for amp.kansascity.com Just before he retired, Matthew Rose offered a warning to his peers running the nation’s large freight railroads. Rose, then the CEO of BNSF, one of the largest American railroads, told an industry conference in early 2019 that railroads were shirking their responsibilities to serve all customers by adopting […]
Freight railroad service is terrible, even without the threat of a strike
By Chris Isidore, CNN for amp.cnn.com The fact that a freight railroad strikedidn’t start on Friday is a huge win for the US economyand its still struggling supply chain. But that doesn’t mean freight railroads are providing good service to their customers. Many of the problems tangling up the supply chain, driving up prices and slowing the economy can […]
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 for newyorker.com 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 […]
Why America’s Railroads Refuse to Give Their Workers Paid Leave
By Eric Levitz for nymag.com For months, the world’s largest economy has been teetering on the brink of collapse because America’s latter-day robber barons can’t comprehend that workers sometimes get sick. Or so the behavior of major U.S. rail companies seems to suggest. Since last winter, railroad unions and the managers of America’s seven dominant freight-rail carriers have […]