U.S. railroad worker fight for pay, benefits could be model for other
deals
Send a link to a friend
[September 16, 2022]
By Lisa Baertlein and Doyinsola Oladipo
LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Union
railworkers in the United States scored a potential key victory in their
fight for improved pay and working conditions on Thursday in what could
be a model for other unions.
Major U.S. railroads and unions representing tens of thousands of
workers reached a tentative deal after 20 hours of talks brokered by
U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, averting a railway strike.
While not directly applicable to ongoing negotiations at U.S. West Coast
ports and upcoming talks at United Parcel Service, the rail workers'
potential win could embolden other workers who have toiled through the
COVID-19 pandemic while watching employers reap record profits, labor
experts said.
Playing in the favor of unions and their members is a tight labor
market, as well as a new generation of workers who demand safer working
conditions.
"The pandemic didn't simply cause stress, but really highlighted deep
discontent that many workers have had, including in rail, but had been
putting up with," said Harley Shaiken, labor professor emeritus at
University of California Berkeley. "We're at a critical moment."
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Sep/16/images/ads/current/fcs_funeral_lda_border_04029022.png)
President Joe Biden, in announcing the deal on Thursday with such
companies as Union Pacific Railroad and Berkshire Hathaway-owned BNSF
Railway, praised it as a model for other company-union agreements.
The rail deals - hammered out between the companies and a dozen unions -
must still be ratified, but they include large wage increases, monthly
health contribution freezes, a framework for assigned days off and time
off for sick days, doctor visits and medical care.
Workers with similar demands likely "would take this as a win or an
opportunity to feel like they have some leverage," Stifel analyst
Benjamin Nolan said.
That could especially apply in industries where workers kept the economy
moving while many sheltered at home, and without whom vital
transportation systems, delivery services and healthcare would have
suffered, experts said.
The issues resonate across all sectors, whether it is railworkers, West
Coast dockworkers, UPS delivery drivers, intensive care unit nurses,
Amazon.com Inc warehouse workers or Starbucks Corp baristas, some of
whom are pushing to organize unions, said Peter Rachleff, a professor
and U.S. labor researcher at Macalester College in Minnesota.
Employees have more power as many businesses are short-staffed, some
because of years of cost cutting or pandemic-fueled attrition, he said,
and those employees are pushing back against longer hours.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/091622PIX/news_t14.jpg)
An aerial view of shipping containers
and freight railway trains ahead of a possible strike if there is no
deal with the rail worker unions, at the BNSF Los Angeles Intermodal
Facility rail yard in Los Angeles, California, U.S., September 15,
2022. REUTERS/Bing Guan
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Sep/16/images/ads/current/chicagost_sda_FOOTBALL_2022.png)
'INTOLERABLE CONDITIONS'
The negotiations in the rail industry certainly drew the attention
of others, including the head of the union representing some 22,000
West Coast port workers now in labor talks.
"No weekends, no holidays, getting fired for getting sick or
attending funerals, three worker fatalities in 10 days - No one
should be forced to accept intolerable working conditions,"
International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) President Willie
Adams said in a statement on Wednesday before the rail deal was
announced. His members work for global ocean shipping lines like A.P.
Moller-Maersk.
Even Teamster-represented UPS workers, including drivers who
complain about the scorching temperatures in the cabs of their
trucks, are threatening to strike when their contract expires next
year.
While union membership has declined over the decades, support for
unions is making a comeback, partly driven by unrest by workers over
their treatment, experts said. They are finding more support from a
sympathetic public.
More than two-thirds of Americans polled by Gallup in August
approved of labor unions, the highest reading in more than five
decades. Meanwhile, requests to hold elections to determine if
employees wish to unionize increased 58% year-over-year during the
nine months ended June 30, according to the National Labor Relations
Board.
"The pandemic gave workers a different view on what they should have
to put up with at work. It's just not OK to go back to the way
things were," Harvard Law School Professor Sharon Block said.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Jul/22/images/ads/current/rohlfs_lda_072017.png)
Indeed, railworkers received support from several industry groups
representing hundreds of customers, who in letters to lawmakers
complained rail service suffered from layoffs and other cutbacks
while prices increased. Railroads inflamed that ire by cutting rail
services before this week's deadline for a deal, worsening train
delays and cargo backups.
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles and Doyinsola Oladipo in
New York; Additional reporting by Aishwarya Nair and Nathan Gomes in
Bengaluru; Editing by Ben Klayman and Matthew Lewis)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |