Mastodawn

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Peter Riley Feb 7, 2025

Rosina Tucker helped #railroadworkers organize the first Black-led labor union in America,

Maria Moreno fought for #farmworkers in the fields of California,

Ah Quon McElrath who united the #laborers of the vast sugarcane plantations,

Ben Fletcher, a #dockworker who organized a strong, interracial union that ran the ports of #Philadelphia,

Judy Heumann, #educationworker who became the mother of the #DisabilityRights Movement.

#LaborMovement #organize #solidarity #workingclasshistory

Peter Riley Jul 11, 2024

Rail and Labor News July 2024 Newsletter Number 28
Railroad Workers United

https://myemail-api.constantcontact.com/Rail---Labor-News-from-RWU-2024----28.html?soid=1116509035139&aid=kSad98wlMks

#RailroadWorkers #rankandfile #union #solidarity

Rail & Labor News from RWU 2024 - #28

Rail & Labor News from RWU Weekly Digest Number 28 - July 9th, 2024 View this Email as a Webpage Normally, you can click here to listen to the headlines and features of this week's Rail & Labor News

Railroad Workers United

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azteclady Dec 17, 2023

John Oliver takes on trains.

Key points: safety (of workers and the public) is fourth in the list of priorities (meaning, it's not one), while "customer satisfaction" is the first one--where customers are the corporations shipping fuel and toxic chemicals through cities, especially poor (and mostly Black) neighborhoods. See the meaning of "wrong side of the tracks"

And yet, #RailRoadWorkers aren't allowed to strike.

Because "the economy" and "public good".

https://youtu.be/AJ2keSJzYyY?si=RqrxvR7Rp8Xpfysh

Freight Trains: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

YouTube

René Merced

🇵🇷Nov 7, 2023

RWU Announces Defense Campaign For Fired Rail Worker

Railroad Workers United (RWU) is initiating a public defense campaign for the unjustly dismissed locomotive engineer, Michael “Paul” Lindsey II.

azteclady Apr 26, 2023

Given that Biden made it illegal for the #RailroadWorkers to strike, it's rich that Buttigieg is now "shocked" that #NorfolkSouthern gives exactly zero shits about the risk to children's lives.

Remember: one of the concerns of railroad workers was the length of the trains. See: constant derailments.

This could have been addressed, the government didn't want that to happen.

https://www.propublica.org/article/trains-crossing-blocked-kids-norfolk-southern

As Rail Profits Soar, Blocked Crossings Force Kids to Crawl Under Trains to Get to School

When crossings are blocked for hours, kids risk their lives to get to school by crawling through trains that could start at any moment. Ambulances and fire trucks can’t get through. The problem has existed for decades. But it’s getting worse.

ProPublica

Steve Dustcircle 🌹Mar 3, 2023

#Railroadworkers and #union reps from the US, UK, and France discuss the #classstruggle in their respective countries and how these struggles are connected internationally in this special episode of the ‘Working People’ podcast.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5fKbRDgdlh2eaPCGnTHkTb
https://therealnews.com/rail-workers-of-the-world-unite

Rail workers of the world, unite! | Working People

Listen to this episode from The Real News Podcast on Spotify. Read the transcript of this podcast and read the show notes: From unions in the United States fighting to save our supply chain from the destruction wrought by corporate tycoons, Wall Street vampires, and bought-off politicians, to the National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers (RMT) leading the fight against austerity politics and ruling-class union busting in the United Kingdom, to rail workers with the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) in France joining their compatriots in the streets in a general strike against President Emmanuel Macron's neoliberal attack on the country's beloved pension system, rail workers around the world are fighting different battles in the same war: the class war. In this special international episode of Working People, we bring together a panel of rail workers from the US, UK, and France to talk about what they are up against, what the struggle looks like in their corners of the world, and what we can all do to connect those struggles and build international worker solidarity. Panelists include: Ross Grooters of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and Railroad Workers United in the US; Cat Cray and Clayton Clive of the RMT in the UK; Matthieu Bolle-Reddat of the CGT Cheminots Versailles in France.Post-Production: Jules Taylor Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Spotify

Diligence Jones Feb 17, 2023

When I think about the rail derailment in OH, I can't help but think of the ways that this disaster is the perfect storm of crumbling infrastructure, an unsafe industry stuck in the early 20th century, terrible environmental policy, awful labor practices, and class warfare.

Both Dems & GOP are on the hook for their policy decisions leading to this.

Who's going to tell that truth?

#USPol
#RailroadWorkers
#Railway
#Environment
#NorfolkSouthern #safety

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azteclady Feb 15, 2023

I recommend reading this piece by More Perfect Union.

These companies spend money lobbying for fewer regulations--and they get their way and fatter pockets. Meanwhile, we keep seeing more derailments--there were two on Monday alone!--more environmental destruction, and more suffering.

#RailroadWorkers #RailroadStrike #Ohio

https://perfectunion.us/ohio-railroad-disaster-explained/

The Ohio Railroad Disaster, Explained

Rail workers have been warning that railroads' hunger for profit would result in a disaster like the one in East Palestine, Ohio.

More Perfect Union

Alice Marshall Feb 14, 2023

#RailroadWorkers

RWU received a remarkable outpouring of support and solidarity in 2022 as the railroad workers' struggle for a fair contract caught national attention. Now we hope to get a huge camapign jump started and up-and-running!

We are contracting with WorkFriends, a pro-union media strategy firm run by filmmaker & strategist Peter Lyngso to run a video campaign to elevate our call for Public Ownership of the Railroads.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/railroad-workers-united

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azteclady Feb 12, 2023

There's an update to the QZ piece, and, will you look at this: this has happened before, the EPA has covered for the railroad companies before, and the residents/the public have paid with their health/lives for the big honchos' profits.

#EnvironmentalDisaster #Ohio #RailroadWorkers

https://qz.com/norfolk-southern-is-giving-25-000-to-an-ohio-town-wher-1850094599

Norfolk Southern is giving $25,000 to an Ohio town where it caused a life-or-death evacuation

Norfolk Southern's "controlled release" of toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, could impact local health and the environment for years to come

Quartz