Analysis: Big Rail Industry's Greed Is Derailing Worker Negotiations

[Donkees]

ECONOMIC SECURITY AND CORPORATE POWER
NOVEMBER 22, 2022

Excerpt:

As a major rail strike looms that may require Congressional action, a new analysis from watchdog Accountable.US spotlights the big rail industry’s record of greedy behavior as they resist worker calls for safer working conditions and fair pay. Accountable.US found nearly all of the seven Class I railroads have enjoyed high profits amid the supply chain crisis while cutting costs, increasing shareholder handouts, and disclosing over $11.2 million on lobbying related to competition, mergers, and Biden’s July 2021 executive order confronting aggressive industry pricing.

''The same wealthy rail industry executives that say they can’t afford to pay their workers fair wages all had banner years in net revenue and shareholder giveaways. The big rail industry’s own earnings reports show they didn’t need to cut corners on safety and gouge businesses with excessive fees that get passed onto consumers. It only adds up to one thing: greed. For years the industry gutted investments in maintenance and equipment, and when those decisions inevitably led to supply chain bottlenecks, the industry now refuses to take any responsibility. Instead, Big Rail has opted to impose record fees and shortchange their workers while continuing to enrich a small group of investors. If Congress has to intervene, it would make no sense to reinforce greedy industry behavior that would lead to a supply chain crisis right before the holiday season.''

ACCOUNTABLE.US SPOKESPERSON LIZ ZELNICK

https://accountable.us/analysis-big-rail-industrys-greed-is-derailing-worker-negotiations/

[multigraincracker]

1. My last 4 years of working at the car company was in the Rail Yard.

Nothing soft in a rail car. Was glad I was in the UAW, both then and now.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. I'm sympathetic to the rail workers, but the title is propagandistic

... and the propaganda term shows up in the article.

There is ONLY "Big Rail". There are no small rail operators that I know of but I'm sure they exist and I am equally sure they have at most a tiny influence on the overall industry. Title words are precious and they waste one on "big". Take it out of the title and the title has more punch.

Of course the biggest operators are "Big"! By repeated pushing that propaganda term, it gets in the way of the message. I think the rail workers (and many other workers, probably almost all workers) need better pay and conditions.

[Donkees]

3. ''Accountable.US found nearly all of the seven Class I railroads... ''

As of 2021, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) defines a Class 1 as having operating revenues of, or exceeding, $900 million annually (previously the figure had been $505 million).
https://www.american-rails.com/class.html

In the United States, railroads are designated as Class I, Class II, or Class III, according to size criteria first established by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) in 1911, and now governed by the Surface Transportation Board (STB).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_railway

.

[Donkees]

5. 'I am equally sure they have at most a tiny influence on the overall industry'

Although they may be smaller, short line railroads make a big impact on freight shipping. Collectively, they operate 50,000 miles of track — that’s nearly 40 percent of the national railroad network. American short lines operate in 49 of the 50 states and in five of those states, they operate 100 percent of the freight rail. Short lines also touch one in every four rail cars moving through the nationwide network... every short line connects to at least one, if not multiple Class I Railroads,” Baker said. “Essentially every item that ships on a short line ends up on a Class I.

https://www.up.com/customers/track-record/tr051220-what-are-short-line-railroads.htm

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. Ah, thank you! I will adjust my perspective accordingly.

Key take away: short lines are more important than I thouht, but entirely dependent on connections to "Big Rail" (good highlighting).

I appreciate the time you took to find and post this info.

[Donkees]

8. In addition, "some short lines, workers are not unionized at all''

https://www.railroadworkersunited.org/

[ramen]

4. I heard a rail worker quote the rail companies' written statement about this:

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/paragraph-in-presidential-emergency-board-report-stokes-controversy/


"The Carriers maintain that capital investment and risk are the reasons for their profits, not any contributions by labor. The Carriers further argue that there is no correlation historically between high profits and higher compensation, either in the freight rail industry or more generally. To the contrary, one of the Carriers’ experts maintained that the most profitable companies are not those whose compensation is the highest."

My jaw hit the floor..

[Donkees]

7. *

[ramen]

10. That is the line, yes, where the rail companies assert that the workers provide no value,

and that their money magically reproduced itself without human intervention.

[multigraincracker]

9. A hand full of big RR companies

invested over $10B in stock buy backs in the last 6 months, not in capital improvements. Let’s tax Buy Backs at 100% for all companies. Note, CEO compensation is mostly in company stock See commondreams.org for these figures.