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Trust me: I am just as eager as the next guy to put the chaotic politics of yesteryear behind us. |
The wars in Ukraine and Israel, midterms, Roe v. Wade, $6 gas, classified documents at the ex-president’s summer home—it was a lot. But there’s still one more thing I want to cover before we let it all go: the railroad strikes of late 2022. Each year, 1.2 BILLION tons of material are transported along US rail lines. So when some of the biggest rail related labor unions agreed to go on strike, economists and politicians across the nation panicked. Everyone braced for the economic collapse that a national rail strike could bring. But the strikes never came. What happened to the unions and workers that were so eager to strike just weeks earlier?
Mounting Pressure
Strikes, unions, and labor movements are nothing new in the railroad transportation industry. Eugene V. Debs established the first railroad labor union in the midst of the "Gilded Age" way back in 1893. Since then, more and more rail workers have turned to unionization to protect themselves from greedy employers and corporations, using their union power to defend their rights to off days, fair pay, and medical security. Today, there are 13 different rail-related labor unions in the United States alone, with even the smallest representing over 100,000 workers in various transportation sectors.
However, the last few years have been particularly hard on transportation workers, union and non-union alike, especially in terms of inflation. While prices for food, water and shelter rise, wages remain stagnant. The industry has been cutting staff for years now, despite massive profit increases for rail companies, which translates into more work for the remaining laborers. Rail workers have long complained about having little to no time to see their families, hesitating to take time off for fear of repercussions, and wages that struggle to meet costs of living. The biggest current issue for rail workers, however, would not come until early 2020, with the onset of Covid-19.
The effects of Covid-19 on the United States were, in a word, devastating. Unemployment spiked. Prices skyrocketed. Millions of people were quarantined at home or hospitalized. However, the pandemic proved to be especially damaging for rail workers in particular. So how come railroad workers had it any different?
While most railroad workers are guaranteed paid time off for sick days by their employers, freight rail workers are not. Railroad companies argue that freight workers can simply use some of their personal days for short term sickness coverage, but rail worker unions point out that because of staff and scheduling issues, getting personal days approved is incredibly difficult. Some workers even testify that they are likely to be penalized or even fired just for calling in sick. While this has been the case for a very long time, the issue of sick leave for railroad workers became even more contentious after Covid-19 started sending people home. As time passed, the probability of real retaliation became more and more likely.
Bringing Down the Union Hammer
Back in February, BNSF Freight Railroad Company introduced its workers to a brand new work policy, which it called “Hi-Viz”. The Hi-Viz system assigned a number of “points” to each worker, which were used to track performance and work attendance. Essentially, a worker would start with 30 points, losing some for taking days off of work or calling in sick. A worker could regain 4 points by being on call for 14 days straight, and if the worker took time off during any of those 14 days, they would have to start all over. Naturally, unions representing over 17 thousand workers were furious about this development, immediately threatening to strike. However, BNSF countered the unions with a lawsuit, managing to win a restraining order preventing strikes from happening with no legal repercussions.
This was a massive blow to the workers and unions supporting the strike, confirming their fears that their bosses had the power to decide if a strike would happen and setting the board for stronger action that was likely to go national. The Railway Labor Act of 1926 grants Congress the power to intervene in any railroad or airline related strike, which allows the National Mediation Board to mediate discussions between rail unions and companies. In response to the rising tension, the National Mediation board began to mediate disputes in June between 12 railroad workers’ unions and 7 large railways: BNSF, Norfolk Southern, CSX, Union Pacific, Amtrak, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, and Kansas City Southern.
Derailed!
June passed and July came, and workers were still locked in dispute with rail companies. No headway was being made, so president Joe Biden decided it was time to step in. Biden and Congress knew that a national strike could sink the already fragile economy, disabling transportation across the country. Something would need to be done.
That same month, Biden issued an executive order convening a Presidential Emergency Board to deal with the unions. On August 16, the board called a 30-day “cooling off period.” This meant that no strikes or protests could be held, putting negotiations on pause until conversations resumed. During this period, the board proposed a new deal to end the strikes: a wage increase between four and seven percent before 2024, one extra paid day off (unions asked 15 at least), and five bonuses of $1,000. It wasn’t much, but leaders of three of the 12 railroad unions representing about 15 thousand workers ratified the terms. However, the remaining unions held fast, as well as the rank-and-file union members. More negotiations, in which Biden himself was involved, yielded marginally better results, including a 14% pay increase, but still only one extra day of paid leave.
September finally arrived, and tensions were nearing a boiling point. Unions still refused to approve the meager concessions of their railroad companies and the president, threatening strike if they did not receive the sick days that they needed. But September threw a new wrench into the desperate efforts of unions: congressional intervention. Senators Richard Burr and Roger Wicker introduced a new bill that, if passed, would force unions to accept the terms. Senator Bernie Sanders blocked the bill, retaliating that freight workers received “a grand total of zero sick days” while companies profited. November came, and most unions still rejected the agreements. At this point, Congress was growing restless. Biden asked Congress to push the bill through. The House passed their own amended version of the bill, guaranteeing a week of paid sick leave. The Senate also ratified their own, still with only a single day.
Not only was pressure mounting at the national level, but Biden was receiving open criticism from the public as well. Professor of Sociology Barry Eidlin remarked that the government was essentially telling workers to “shut up and get back to work.” Biden also received a letter with comments from over 500 different labor historians, condemning his anti-union and anti-labor sentiments, despite being from the more “pro-labor” Democratic party.
Unions made a final push for their demands, declaring several days in mid December to be official strike days. This could be the effort that the unions needed to get their demands met. Unfortunately, this valiant effort came too late, as Biden signed the strikebreaking legislation into law on December 2nd. The critical, possibly world-changing fight for sick pay was over before it even began.
Solidarity Forever
The 2022 rail strikes, if anything, do an excellent job of putting the absurdity of modern day politics in perspective. Instead of providing adequate sick time off to some of the most important laborers in the nation, the government would rather suppress the ability of those laborers to organize themselves for their own benefit. Economists and supporters of the strikebreaking legislation argued that a national strike would hurt the economy (which is the entire point of a strike, by the way), and so Biden had to force an agreement as soon as possible. But what Biden and his fellow politicians have proved through the actions they’ve taken is that they prefer business as usual over fair treatment of the working class, which is an absolutely terrifying thought. Especially so for a generation that is nearing their entry into the American workforce.
Mounting Pressure
Strikes, unions, and labor movements are nothing new in the railroad transportation industry. Eugene V. Debs established the first railroad labor union in the midst of the "Gilded Age" way back in 1893. Since then, more and more rail workers have turned to unionization to protect themselves from greedy employers and corporations, using their union power to defend their rights to off days, fair pay, and medical security. Today, there are 13 different rail-related labor unions in the United States alone, with even the smallest representing over 100,000 workers in various transportation sectors.
However, the last few years have been particularly hard on transportation workers, union and non-union alike, especially in terms of inflation. While prices for food, water and shelter rise, wages remain stagnant. The industry has been cutting staff for years now, despite massive profit increases for rail companies, which translates into more work for the remaining laborers. Rail workers have long complained about having little to no time to see their families, hesitating to take time off for fear of repercussions, and wages that struggle to meet costs of living. The biggest current issue for rail workers, however, would not come until early 2020, with the onset of Covid-19.
The effects of Covid-19 on the United States were, in a word, devastating. Unemployment spiked. Prices skyrocketed. Millions of people were quarantined at home or hospitalized. However, the pandemic proved to be especially damaging for rail workers in particular. So how come railroad workers had it any different?
While most railroad workers are guaranteed paid time off for sick days by their employers, freight rail workers are not. Railroad companies argue that freight workers can simply use some of their personal days for short term sickness coverage, but rail worker unions point out that because of staff and scheduling issues, getting personal days approved is incredibly difficult. Some workers even testify that they are likely to be penalized or even fired just for calling in sick. While this has been the case for a very long time, the issue of sick leave for railroad workers became even more contentious after Covid-19 started sending people home. As time passed, the probability of real retaliation became more and more likely.
Bringing Down the Union Hammer
Back in February, BNSF Freight Railroad Company introduced its workers to a brand new work policy, which it called “Hi-Viz”. The Hi-Viz system assigned a number of “points” to each worker, which were used to track performance and work attendance. Essentially, a worker would start with 30 points, losing some for taking days off of work or calling in sick. A worker could regain 4 points by being on call for 14 days straight, and if the worker took time off during any of those 14 days, they would have to start all over. Naturally, unions representing over 17 thousand workers were furious about this development, immediately threatening to strike. However, BNSF countered the unions with a lawsuit, managing to win a restraining order preventing strikes from happening with no legal repercussions.
This was a massive blow to the workers and unions supporting the strike, confirming their fears that their bosses had the power to decide if a strike would happen and setting the board for stronger action that was likely to go national. The Railway Labor Act of 1926 grants Congress the power to intervene in any railroad or airline related strike, which allows the National Mediation Board to mediate discussions between rail unions and companies. In response to the rising tension, the National Mediation board began to mediate disputes in June between 12 railroad workers’ unions and 7 large railways: BNSF, Norfolk Southern, CSX, Union Pacific, Amtrak, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, and Kansas City Southern.
Derailed!
June passed and July came, and workers were still locked in dispute with rail companies. No headway was being made, so president Joe Biden decided it was time to step in. Biden and Congress knew that a national strike could sink the already fragile economy, disabling transportation across the country. Something would need to be done.
That same month, Biden issued an executive order convening a Presidential Emergency Board to deal with the unions. On August 16, the board called a 30-day “cooling off period.” This meant that no strikes or protests could be held, putting negotiations on pause until conversations resumed. During this period, the board proposed a new deal to end the strikes: a wage increase between four and seven percent before 2024, one extra paid day off (unions asked 15 at least), and five bonuses of $1,000. It wasn’t much, but leaders of three of the 12 railroad unions representing about 15 thousand workers ratified the terms. However, the remaining unions held fast, as well as the rank-and-file union members. More negotiations, in which Biden himself was involved, yielded marginally better results, including a 14% pay increase, but still only one extra day of paid leave.
September finally arrived, and tensions were nearing a boiling point. Unions still refused to approve the meager concessions of their railroad companies and the president, threatening strike if they did not receive the sick days that they needed. But September threw a new wrench into the desperate efforts of unions: congressional intervention. Senators Richard Burr and Roger Wicker introduced a new bill that, if passed, would force unions to accept the terms. Senator Bernie Sanders blocked the bill, retaliating that freight workers received “a grand total of zero sick days” while companies profited. November came, and most unions still rejected the agreements. At this point, Congress was growing restless. Biden asked Congress to push the bill through. The House passed their own amended version of the bill, guaranteeing a week of paid sick leave. The Senate also ratified their own, still with only a single day.
Not only was pressure mounting at the national level, but Biden was receiving open criticism from the public as well. Professor of Sociology Barry Eidlin remarked that the government was essentially telling workers to “shut up and get back to work.” Biden also received a letter with comments from over 500 different labor historians, condemning his anti-union and anti-labor sentiments, despite being from the more “pro-labor” Democratic party.
Unions made a final push for their demands, declaring several days in mid December to be official strike days. This could be the effort that the unions needed to get their demands met. Unfortunately, this valiant effort came too late, as Biden signed the strikebreaking legislation into law on December 2nd. The critical, possibly world-changing fight for sick pay was over before it even began.
Solidarity Forever
The 2022 rail strikes, if anything, do an excellent job of putting the absurdity of modern day politics in perspective. Instead of providing adequate sick time off to some of the most important laborers in the nation, the government would rather suppress the ability of those laborers to organize themselves for their own benefit. Economists and supporters of the strikebreaking legislation argued that a national strike would hurt the economy (which is the entire point of a strike, by the way), and so Biden had to force an agreement as soon as possible. But what Biden and his fellow politicians have proved through the actions they’ve taken is that they prefer business as usual over fair treatment of the working class, which is an absolutely terrifying thought. Especially so for a generation that is nearing their entry into the American workforce.
With the rail strikes, wage stagnation, and the deadline for climate action drawing ever closer, we need to recognize that unity, protest, and advocacy are more important than they have ever been, and could very possibly decide the future of our communities, our nation, and the world.
Isaiah Pinzino
