Progress in Reopening Freight Railroad Negotiations to Add Pay to Rank-and-Field Salaries: A State Senator’s Perspective
More discussions are already happening, with unions reporting they have reopened negotiations with other freight railroads to add paid sick leave. rank-and-file workers are bracing for what will be asked of them in return.
Workers have been unsuccessful in their efforts to get paid sick leave met through negotiations with freight rail companies.
The letter pointed out that both the House and Senate supported legislation to do so, with some nominal Republican support in both chambers along with nearly unanimous Democratic support. The legislation didn’t get the required number of votes in the Senate.
The national legislative director for the transportation department of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail Transportation Union said the Biden administration has been helpful. “Of course, they want to do this. Whether they can do it, we’re going to find out.”
The industry hopes to use the new agreements as a starting point for more discussions about the structure of paid leave, scheduling, and work-life balance interests, according to the AAR.
“Railroads remain committed to working with their employees to address these priorities holistically and strike the right balance, be it as an industry or on a railroad-by-railroad basis with each union,” the AAR added.
During his three decades in the auto industry, Hinrichs saw workers get allowances for absences that can be used for various purposes, including if they wake up sick. In rail, workers must get approval far in advance for any paid personal days they take. There’s no calling in sick the morning of your shift.
The Post-Biden Labor Strike: Why the Unions voted to Block Biden’s Trade Agreement, and How President Barack Obama Voted it
The Biden administration asked Congress to vote to block a strike by the unions that could have started this past Friday, saying a work stoppage would be too great a blow to the nation’s economy.
Although most of the unions are disappointed, they have been restrained in their criticism of Biden because he did not include sick days in the contracts.
Asked if the reason that most union leaders did not criticize Biden’s decision was because they are hopeful that he will be willing to issue an executive order to get them the disputed sick days, Hynes replied, “I think you’re answering your own question.”
The main author of the congressional letter will be at the Washington DC rally. That letter points out that President Barack Obama issued such a rule on federal contractors in 2015, but that it did not cover the unionized rail workers.
“It’s very exciting. It’s a good faith effort to show that we’re essential employees rather than expendable,” Weaver said this week. “It gives me hope.”
The deals were credited to continued advocacy and involvement from the Biden administration by the White House press secretary.
Hinrichs, who started at CSX last September, says that even as the freight railroads as a group remained staunchly opposed to paid sick leave, he was in discussions at the multibillion-dollar company about doing something different once the national negotiations were over.
The union votes on the contract were the most significant part of his first two months. The lack of sick leave was cited as a reason for four rail unions to vote it down.
The shortage of workers on the freight railroads came from the fact that many of them had been put on leave at the beginning of the Pandemic and didn’t come back.
The railroad industry didn’t get improvements to its image by what transpired in those several months, says Hinrichs.
Norfolk Southern has agreed to pay its CEOs sick days despite the pressure from East Palestine, Ohio, during the current freight rail pandemic
Famously progressive Senator Bernie Sanders was joined by Republican Senator Mike Braun of Indiana on Thursday in challenging CEOs of other freight rail companies to follow suit.
Norfolk Southern has agreed to give one of its unions the paid sick days it demanded for members in negotiations last year, and is in talks to grant sick days to its other unions as well.
Hours before the announcement was made, Mark George, the company’s chief financial officer, told investors that it was still hard to find open positions at almost all of the company’s locations.
The third largest union at the railroad is also the union that represents track workers from Norfolk Southern. Norfolk Southern has about 18,700 employees and 15,700 of them are union members. But that’s down more than 20% from the 24,600 employees it had — including nearly 20,000 union members — in 2019, ahead of the pandemic.
The agreement was announced late Wednesday, and comes as the railroad tries to repair relations with the public in East Palestine, Ohio, where a derailed freight train released a toxic chemical into the air and water.
The company has pledged $6.5 million in compensation and will comply with the demand of the EPA to help clean up the polluted area.
It spent nearly $18 billion on share repurchases and dividends over the last five years more than 2,500 times what it had pledged to residents and the community.
In the last year, Norfolk Southern and the nation’s other major freight railroads have come under fire for refusing to provide paid sick days for their members.