U.S. Railroad Workers Could Strike & Shut Down The Economy

Hugely profitable railroad companies are putting the entire American economy in jeopardy. The railroads refuse to negotiate a fair contract with workers who are on call 24/7 & haven’t gotten a raise in 3 years. 115,000 railroad workers could be forced to strike in September.
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[grmpEqweer]

To railroad workers: DO IT. We'll figure it out. You're being worked in an unsafe manner, that endangers all of us.

[mattcarter]

As a railroader, thank you for the support. We just want a fair, work, life balance, and a fair agreement for pay and benefits.

[moonhand]

Solidarity, the working class is with you. They say we'll suffer. We suffer ANYWAY. Same old story, the rich get richer. Throw the gauntlet down.

[Voidsworn]

As uncomfortable as this could make life, shopping and such, do it.

[BackwoodSpiritAnimal]

I support them. As rail has plans to expand in the next decade and beyond, these strikes need to set the precedent that rail workers literally RUN the economy and should not be treated as slaves.

[Blackjack]

Whatever disrupts the companies in this country and their practices. Since the government isn't doing anything, you have to push workers rights in other ways.

[MicStyle]

Long time railroader and I really appreciate the comments and support. Most people really have No Idea the problems when have out on the rail or total bs we go through with railroad's greed.

[xazauhitra]

absolutely disgusting . these workers should be getting paid way over 30 an hour for this soul crushing work. i didn’t even know there is 120 hours in a week ffs!!! I’d be willing to tighten my belt and deal with the consequences of whatever happens if these workers strike

[FredHMusic-grnu]

Over in the UK, we are having quite the firestorm ourselves with the railway and the RMT. The Tories threaten to crush them, the Labour party leadership refuse to support them and threatens or fires any MP that does. Solidarity forever!

[ekeller]

Vote no on the contract! It's time to walk out! 18 years out here and never seen the train crews treated this bad.

[Draconis]

I fully support them, unions workers is what is going to save our country from the utterly corrupt corporate practices. I wish them the best on contract negotiations!

[jonadams]

I worked throughout the pandemic, no hazard pay or new contract. I worked for NS in the Harrisburg Terminal and basically got to experience the shift to psr. Started in late 2015, was furloughed on Christmas eve, those people are heartless, and finally, at the beginning of 2022 I got out. They were trying to drive the company into the ground to lower the operating ratio and it was destroying everything. I had worked there for 5 years and never left the extra board in an area where, when I hired, most guys held a regular job after a year. It was a joke. Yards were shut down, people were laid off, engines were stored and scrapped for parts, all while running monster trains and hoping that they could have one man crews. I departed 3 mile long trains regularly at the end and it was a nightmare because the my radio range was like a it was not safe. The yards were so old, that they weren't even capable of having these trains built in there yards. Trainmasters were leaving left and right because of the demands of the general manager who would yell at them everyday to do the impossible. Departure times were all basically false too. They would log a departure time of like 8:00a as long as the train went past a signal while it was being built, but in reality it would be built for another hour or two and finally leave the yard at like 11:00a...they would store cars on the main to decrease time in the actual yard for the books and reduce the lull of cars on paper. They would build trains in the most ridiculous ways too. Loads should be towards the front and empties towards the back, but because of psr they would block the trains just to offload cars on these monster trains. So you would have loads all over and empties at the front, so the slack was crazy and the train would be at risk for coming apart. They ripped up most of the two track sections that existed and instead opted for single track and sidings so they would report less trackage on there taxes, but with the longer trains that they were running, they couldn't fit them on the sidings and were forced to run them and have every single smaller train hold for the one long train to pass. With less crews and only 12 hours of time on duty, the management was bascially shooting themselves in the foot. They made carmen inspect faster and faster, forcing cars onto the main that were at great risk of causing breakdowns. They shrank the car department and even brought in non union people to do the work so they could lower the man power costs. Maintenance of way were running skeleton crews and had increased territories to cover. The tracks were breaking, the engines were garbage, the crews were skeleton, volume was crazy, and everyone was miserable. Every winter it would get worse and worse...in our contract conductors were not allowed to use shovels, we could only use brooms to clean out switches. Well there were no longer maintenace of way guys to remove snow and they could use shovels and blowers etc...so i couldnt even move a train without it taking 30 mins to properly clear out a switch with a broom! when i first hired that never happened. When we would flat switch in the winter, some parts of the yard would have 10 -15 switches that would need attention to properly yard a train and build another, so thats your whole shift if theres no maintenace guys to help. So you just leave it for the next crew but the thing is, the train is supposed to be yarded and the next train built during your shift and it didnt happen...so you have management swarming and asking why you didnt shift the usual 200 cars during your shift, and your like....i cant do that safely because the switches wont throw because of snow. And I've got a broom. They had now forthought for any kind of issue and tried to run a railroad like it was sunny and 70 everyday. I had to fight management for every breach of contract instead of them compensating me like they should. If I didnt get a lunch break I was entitled to a claim that was payable to compensate me, they would just deny the claims everytime without even reading or investigating so they could save the $12 or whatever. Then i would have to go to the union to fight for it and during the talks basically they would be thrown out to negotiate other issues...like I'll throw these claims out if you bring back whatever or do whatever for us. The place was horrible. I hope the carriers realize that they are destroying the economic growth of the entire country by doing what they are doing and hampering industries across the board to raise the stock price. It's insanity.

[Gfish]

The Railroad workers are Low-key gods.
Pay them Well don't piss them off.

[kodiekulp]

They should. The other story you told about railworkers was shocking. They should fuck up some supply chains and see how quickly their strike gets resolved.
No sound

[johnlawsonsr]

Brother I baby sat a train in Ridgeway, Oh for 90 hours with no food or water and I gave my engineer my will in case I died due to my Type 1 Diabetic condition and no food.

[johngarrett]

It would be catastrophic if Wall Street destroyed the railroads the ways they destroyed Sears, Toys r Us, lots of other big companies that are no longer around because of their greed. Without railroads and truckers the country would totally fall into chaos The situation would be totally dystopian.

[Bmanritchie]

Shut the supply side down, THEN business heads MUST negotiate to get their products.

[grmpEqweer]

The most effective parasites aren't recognized by the host as a parasite. What is the investor class?

[ericprint]

This is one of the toughest lines of work that contribute so much but there's lots of reasons why no one wants to work for major railroads one the random calls to go to work, long hours, furloughed for almost no reason, and firing employees to meet a quota. I wanted to work for a railroad growing up until I learned how these folks were treated, they deserve good pay for all the narrow minded thinking going on with higher ups.

[ElBoriRichieRich]

As a rail roader in the south east stand with you💪💪💪