By PETER SWOPE for brownpoliticalreview.org In the early hours of September 15, 2022, the Biden administration closed a tentative deal between union negotiators and railroad companies to avoid a work stoppage that threatened to hamstring America’s already-fragile supply chain. Railroad workers face punishing work conditions, including insufficient wages, workplace safety issues, and, most notably, an attendance system that affords […]
Written by Frank N. Wilner, Capitol Hill Contributing Editor For railwayage.com Although six of 12 rail labor unions have ratified amendments to contracts setting wages, benefits and work rules on most Class I railroads and many smaller ones, two unions—the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS) and Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division of the Teamsters […]
Written by Alex L. Kosanda for railwayage.com Editor’s Note: The Surface Transportation Board is conducting an in-person hearing April 26-27 (EP 770, Urgent Issues in Freight Rail Service) with the CEOs of the “Big Four” Class I railroads—BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific—on service problems. Alex L. Kosanda, the wife of a BNSF locomotive engineer, sent […]
Written by Frank N. Wilner, Capitol Hill Contributing Editor for railwayage.com Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.” They also are very different from the labor union brothers and sisters they employ. Take, for example, Union Pacific (UP), which boasts of a spectacularly successful […]
Written by Michael Paul Lindsey II, Locomotive Engineer, Union Pacific via railwayage.com Editor’s Note: The Surface Transportation Board is conducting an in-person hearing April 26-27 (EP 770, Urgent Issues in Freight Rail Service) with the CEOs of the “Big Four” Class I railroads—BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific—on service problems. Union Pacific Locomotive Engineer Michael Paul […]
Written by Matt Parker for railwayage.com Editor’s Note: This opinion piece is in response to my invitation for “reasonable, fact-based, non-political opinions on Precision Scheduled Railroading by experienced railroaders from both the agreement and non-agreement sectors, to encourage discussion,” in response to “PSR Point/Counterpoint: Fortune,” published July 22 – William C. Vantuono An Oct. 3, 2018 article […]
“HOW SAFE ARE AMERICA’S RAILROADS? Lesley Stahl reports on a recent string of crashes on U.S. railroads and the delay in implementing life-saving technology that could have prevented them.” Oh brother. I think you know what CBS 60 Minutes reported on March 3. It’s not pretty. But in my humble opinion, the rail industry can […]