Time for a Mass Effort to Stop Single Employee Train Crews!
July 21st,
2013
Finally, after years of effort, we have some movement on the vital
issue of single employee train operations from one of the unions of the operating
crafts! We in RWU will hold BLET president Dennis Pierce to his word and expect
no further concessions towards single employee train crew
operations. The conflict between the unions of the operating crafts over the
last decade or so has crippled us. It has enabled the rail carriers to first
implement RCO, then move to single employee RCO operations, and in recent years
has allowed the door to be opened to single employee operations on the road.
RWU will be monitoring the situation closely. Given the
no-nonsense get-tough rhetoric on the part of President Pierce, we fully expect
nothing less than to see the BLET spearhead what he suggests: "a
nationwide effort to end single-person operations." And we call on the
Sheet Metal Workers International Association (UTU) to rise to the occasion, to
issue its own statement on the issue, and to fight alongside the BLET to end
the practice at once.
RWU stands ready to assist in any and every possible way to
facilitate unity between these two organizations and to build the national
campaign to outlaw single employee train operations. Our record since our
Founding Convention on this is solid. In fact, when the carriers first outlined
their proposal for single employee operations November 1st of 2004, that was the
catalyst that galvanized railroaders to form Railroad Operating Crafts United
(ROCU) which would go on to form Railroad Workers united in 2008.
In recent weeks, a spotlight has been shined on the whole issue of
single employee train operations. More than ever, rail labor has the urgency
and the necessity to go on the offensive on this issue. Through unity and
solidarity of the operating crafts and their respective unions, we have the
prospect to rid North America of the scourge of single employee train
operations. It's time to build a mass movement of rail labor and our allies --
the rest of the working class, environmental and community groups -- to ensure
the two-person crew on every train, both road and yard. Let's get busy!
In solidarity,
Ron
Kaminkow
RWU General Secretary
608-358-5771
“We need to have faith in each
other. We are in precisely the same position. We depend absolutely on each
other. We know that without solidarity, nothing is possible, and that with
solidarity, nothing is impossible.”
Eugene V. Debs, Founder of the American Railway Union
Eugene V. Debs, Founder of the American Railway Union
