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Paid sick leave has been the goal of railroaders for decades. It is not only the quality-of-life issue that defines our industry, but also a validation of the dignity of our profession. As you can tell from the photograph attached to this article, we are not the first generation of railroaders who have felt strongly about this topic. For a railroad to function safely, carriers know providing sick days is essential, yet the executives opt to pay themselves huge bonuses and engage in profitable stock buybacks with the money it would take to provide it. Instead of being accommodating to the labor forces toward their basic human needs, management tends to extend their appreciation to those who do the work by handing out hats and trinkets on occasion. To pour salt in the wounds, they have also tightened their attendance policies to unreasonable expectations over the years to force employees, out of duress, to go to work when sick.

On April 3, however, the tentative agreement reached between SMART-TD General Committee GO-049 and CSX is a tremendous step forward for T&E personnel on the CSX Northern Mid-Atlantic District. The tentative agreement synopsis is as follows:

  • Provides five paid sick with option to convert two personal days to paid sick days.
  • Unused sick days are converted to cash at the end of the year with the option to defer those payments into a 401(k)
  • Incorporates the current 2023 CSX Revised Attendance Policy (the most lenient policy at CSX in decades) as a component of the CBA and only subject amendments under the provisions of the Railway Labor Act.
  • Provides improved work/rest initiatives with the formation of a Joint Labor/Management Committee to implement “Smart Rest” options, which could provide for up to 24 hours off between tours of duty.
  • Settles a long outstanding issue on displacement and utilization of employees in displaced status
  • Permits train service employees, when practicable, to drive themselves or their own crew within defined terminal switching limits under limited conditions.

“We thank CSX CEO Joseph Hinrichs and Executive Vice President Jamie Boychuk for exhibiting flexibility and working with our union in a collaborative manner in reaching this tentative agreement,” SMART Transportation Division President Jeremy Ferguson said. “This serves as a vital first step to giving T&E personnel the paid sick time they deserve, and I am hopeful this accommodation will be soon be extended to the employees working under the jurisdiction of the other General Committees at CSX as well.”

As noted in past SMART-TD articles and mainstream media concerning the national rail contract negotiations, labor made it clear to the hedge fund managers who run our country’s rail corporations that we are no longer willing to accept hollow attempts to make us feel like valued members of their Fortune 500 companies. SMART-TD leadership, along with the other 11 rail labor organizations, stated clearly that it was time to address the ridiculous gaps in our work/life balance.

By no means was 2022 the first time that railroad workers have pointed out the lack of sick days as a problem. For years we’ve been told that it doesn’t fit the railroad business model as they sell service to their shippers which requires a 24/7/365 operation to meet demands. The unique dependency on crew availability to keep railroads running has been used to justify carriers’ on-call work cycles and inordinately long workdays, leading to the inability for railroaders to be present for family events and holidays. The irony to the operational necessity is that railroads have reduced their labor head-count year-over-year to increase profits and simply force those left to work more and not allow them to take time off, even when sick.

In 2023, the world’s media has a newfound awareness of the struggles of the railroad work force along with the dangerous working conditions. With wall-to-wall news coverage of derailments and communities waking up to the evils of Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR), carriers find themselves in the position of needing to prove to the American people that they are not monsters and that their industry is capable of responsibly self-regulating as they have since the 1800s. Through the hard work and persistence of SMART-TD and your activism, railroads have begun to recognize the humanity of their workforce.

In the past two weeks, SMART-TD has seen Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific begin withdrawing their Section 6 notices pursuing single-employee crews. NS has even gone as far as to implement a new plan that, among other things, reduces the length of their trains (for now) to 10,000 feet.

Many interesting questions come from the idea of conductors driving their crews. One is whether CSX will be able to require conductors to pick up other crews while in the company vehicles. The answer to that is a definitive no. If this TA is ratified, the conductor will only be responsible for transporting the members of his/her crew to perform duties associated with that conductor’s train or duties. In short, the conductor position will not be used as additional cab drivers to be dispatched throughout CSX’s yards. According to GO-049 General Chairperson Rick Lee, this proposed change has received positive feedback as our members will be in charge of their safe transport within terminals, thus not left up to a low-cost taxi vendors or disgruntled railroad managers forced to haul crews in addition to their management duties.

Perhaps the most important question from this development is this: If it is, in fact, possible to run a Class I railroad when employees have the “luxury” of being allotted sick days, why has this basic human dignity been held from us by management for so long? If we are doing away with the premise that railroads can’t function if their transportation employees aren’t duty bound to answer the bell every time they are called to work, then why aren’t all railroaders afforded the same treatment across all crafts and carriers?

Progress in the railroad industry has always been incremental, but the fact is that professionals in every other industry, with much more standard schedules and far more time off work, get paid sick leave. Rail workers need and deserve the same.

The new tentative agreement obtained by GO-049 has blazed a trail, poking a hole in the premise that operating crews can’t get sick time. It is precedent-setting that for the first time in the existence of American railroading that paid sick time will be afforded to transportation employees at a Class I railroad. This is a fact that we all need to take a moment to celebrate. But we also need to look at this development as a call to action to achieve paid sick leave for all of us, not just half the crew base in a slice of the country for 1/7th of the Class I carriers.

With matters as important as this one, it is pivotal to get the details correct. If President Ferguson, his administration, or GC Lee’s team was willing to settle for less than what our members deserved on the paid sick leave front, the opportunity was there. But what was important for our brothers and sisters in this historic decision was that we needed to get as much for the members as possible since the negotiation would set a precedent and needed to fit the work lifestyle of our T&E membership. It is hard to overstate the service GC Lee, Vice President Jamie Modesitt, and all others at GO-049 have done for conductors of all carriers with this negotiation. If this agreement is approved, it’ll be a standard-bearing precedent. We must continue the push to be fairly compensated for the essential work we do. Pending the ratification vote, this needs to be the new standard for agreements going forward.

SMART-TD is deeply grateful for GC Lee’s leadership as they have not only made us proud but have also honored the work of the railroaders in the picture featured along with this article and all those men and women upon whose shoulders this union is lifted.

Quality of life has been front of mind for railroad employees and SMART Transportation Division for years. It was the heart of the most contentious fights in last year’s national rail negotiations and continues to be the ultimate goal for everything your union is working to accomplish.

In Washington state, TD State Legislative Director (SLD) Herb Krohn has led the charge to gain protected unpaid time off for rail workers so, like most other workers in our nation, we don’t have to work while sick and can take leave to care for sick loved ones without fear of employer discipline and termination.

Krohn’s latest bill before the Washington Legislature is ESSB 5267, also known as the “Safe UNPAID Leave Act for Washington Railroad Workers” and is sponsored by state Sen. Patty Kuderer (D-48th District).

This legislation simply protects all railroad employees who mark off duty for their own health, the health of family members, fatigue or medical appointments.  It protects railroaders for up to 90 unpaid days per year for these scenarios free from discipline or termination by railroad company employers.

Herb Krohn is SMART Transportation Division's Washington state legislative director.
Herb Krohn is SMART Transportation Division’s Washington state legislative director.

“The goal of this legislation is to provide job protections for railroaders to allow us all to be able to take care of ourselves and our loved ones without fear of discipline or losing our careers, not just to be a nameless cog in the wheel of the corporate money- machines of the railroad industry,” Krohn said.

Although ESSB 5267 would allow absences totaling up to 90 days each year, it does have some limitations. The first is that a carrier can request doctors’ notes for absences longer than five days in a row. Employees then have 30 days to provide the document to ensure workplace protections. Secondly, no use of time longer than 15 consecutive days is protected by this law, so employees who need additional time must request medical leaves of absence or FMLA.

Brother Krohn is known throughout SMART-TD as an innovator when it comes to the legislation he’s advanced in Washington state. The verbiage he has used for two-person crew legislation, among many other key issues, has widely been a template or best-demonstrated practice to guide SLDs’ progress around the country. As he’s achieved success, SMART-TD hasn’t been the only party that has taken notice.

BNSF, Union Pacific, and the short-line railroads of Washington have sent an army of consultants and lobbyists to counter Brother Krohn’s influence in Olympia.  This is where our members come into play.

With the groundwork laid by the Washington State Legislative Board and other members of rail labor and legislators’ open ears, ESSB 5267 sits in a good position for passage in Washington’s House of Representatives after passing the Senate.

But this week, the fate of 90 available days of sick leave is on the line. Rail lobbyists have circled the wagons and likely are doing everything they can to influence your representatives with their bottomless checkbooks so they can continue to discipline and terminate rail workers for unpaid absences.

SMART-TD members need to apply the same influence with their voices. It’s time for us in the rail community to stop wishing “someone” would do something about our lack of time away from work, and start being that “someone.”

By entering your home address under the “Find Your Elected Officials” field, our legislative action page will list your Washington state representatives in Olympia direct contact information.

Please consider sharing any adverse experiences you’ve had regarding carriers’ attendance policies by calling them or emailing them.

With either method, letting your voice be heard and reminding them that your support at the ballot box should be taken into consideration will influence their vote on this important piece of legislation more than the carriers’ empty arguments can!

DECATUR, Ill — SMART Transportation Division Illinois State Legislative Director Bob Guy was on hand March 30 as state Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced a $200 million investment in about two dozen state projects to improve the flow of freight on rail and road.

Among the 22 projects and most important to TD membership is $10 million to complete funding for a $75 million grade-crossing improvement in the city of Decatur to eliminate a chronically blocked crossing near the Midwest Inland Port.

The creation of the overpass at Faries Parkway and the Norfolk Southern will separate the Norfolk Southern tracks from regular vehicle traffic, eliminating a notorious bottleneck that has been blocked by trains for as long as 17 hours at a time.

“Railroad operating employees know all too well that the overwhelming amount of fatalities and injuries in our industry occur at railroad grade crossings or are due to trespassing events,” SLD Guy said.  “It’s a train crew’s worst nightmare to strike a vehicle or pedestrian at or near a crossing. Grade separation projects like this one provide a win-win situation for workers and communities alike. Removing the opportunity for a tragedy at an at-grade crossing while also freeing up the flow of vehicular traffic, especially at a time when crossings are blocked for longer times due to increased train length, improves safety for rail workers, emergency responders and communities as a whole.”

The awards, announced jointly by Pritzker and the state Department of Transportation, are part of the state’s $33.2 billion Rebuild Illinois plan to rebuild and revitalize the state’s transportation infrastructure using state and federal funds.

Freight rail safety in the news

“From the Ballast” is an open column for SMART Transportation Division rail members to state their perspective on issues related to the railroad industry. Members of the union are encouraged to submit content by emailing to news_TD@smart-union.org. Columns are published at the union’s discretion and may be published in the SMART TD newspaper.

The term “getting railroaded” has its origins in the 1800s. Landowners would use it when the rail companies stole land in order to lay down new track. It has evolved these days to describe generally being cheated or bullied. Unfortunately, the originators of the term who perfected the practice are still bullying, but now it is focused on their own employees.

Today’s corporate railroads may not be stealing land, but they are stealing our jobs, our time and our safety. With Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR), the number of railroad jobs has dropped 30%. Thousands of jobs were done away with even as we kept our country going through a pandemic. More were eliminated as the carrier executives chased an operating ratio that enriched the shareholders and railroad owners.

As headcount diminished, time was stolen as those still employed were forced to work more hours with new attendance policies that leave little time for family or rest. This led to a worker exodus that even further decreased employees and time.

This all resulted in workers’ safety being stolen. Pushing workers to the point of fatigue and making doctor’s appointments all but impossible to schedule have hurt workers’ health. Cutting inspection times and maintenance has led to more breakdowns and derailments. Growing train lengths have increased these dangers as well. In short, workers are all still getting railroaded.

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So, what do we do about it?

Some have conceded that these companies and their lobbyists are too powerful. This mentality is understood, but we’ve seen challenges like these defeated before. Child labor, segregation and unsafe working conditions were all beaten back by unions. There’s no doubt that the odds seemed insurmountable at the time and yet they overcame them.

They did this because they had one big thing going for them. They were on the right side. Well, so are railroaders. In the last few years, we have seen customers, the public, news media and even politicians from both parties start talking about the dangers of PSR and one-person rail crews. Five years ago, it was ridiculous to think that major media outlets would have reports on these issues or even be concerned about, but they have and they are and progress is being made.

This happened because railroaders spoke out. They wrote emails, met with representatives and even used social media to spread the word. If all of us, together, made an effort to do the same, we could win this battle.

So, please use the resources that are available — take some time and write an email to your representative. Talk with leaders at a City Council meeting. Make some handouts and pin them on a board. Go to a union meeting and suggest something to inform your community. Do some philanthropy and talk about railroad issues. Put up an informative table at a festival. Do something to fight back. It’s hard to quiet 100,000 voices ringing. Every person who learns about this corporate greed and corruption is another crack in their armor. It’s easy to give up, but let’s stand strong together and let them know that the days of getting “railroaded” are now over.

This article was submitted by an active member of SMART Transportation Division Local 445 (Niota, Ill.) who works for BNSF and chose to remain anonymous. We thank him for his submission and his continued advocacy in union matters!

Agreement with SMART-TD provides greater flexibility for railroad, improves service for customers and enhances quality of life for employees 

OMAHA, Neb., (March 25, 2023) — Union Pacific has reached a tentative crew consist agreement with General Committee 953, part of its largest union, The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers — Transportation Division (SMART-TD). 

The proposed agreement makes no changes to the current conductor position staffing each train as part of a two-person crew, provides long term job protection to current employees and gives the railroad greater flexibility to deploy brake or switch persons to work either in the yard or outside the yard. The proposed agreement, if ratified, closes Union Pacific’s current Section 6 Notice to redeploy Conductors on this committee.

“We are pleased that Union Pacific is focusing on quality of life for our conductor workforce,” said Jeremy Ferguson, president of SMART-TD. “Along with the scheduling enhancements, which were part of last year’s national agreements, we have an opportunity to positively impact our conductors by giving them fixed days off and greater certainty about their weekly assignments.”

“This agreement with SMART-TD reflects Union Pacific’s commitment to enhance the quality of life for our employees through predictable, scheduled shift work while giving us greater scheduling flexibility that will also improve customer service,” said Beth Whited, executive vice president – Sustainability and Strategy and CHRO. “We are working to finalize the contract details as quickly as possible.”

2023.03.25_UP-SMART-TD-AgreementDownload

ABOUT UNION PACIFIC

Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) delivers the goods families and businesses use every day with safe, reliable and efficient service. Operating in 23 western states, the company connects its customers and communities to the global economy. Trains are the most environmentally responsible way to move freight, helping Union Pacific protect future generations. More information about Union Pacific is available at www.up.com.

About SMART-TD

SMART Transportation Division is comprised of approximately 125,000 active and retired members who work in a variety of different crafts in the transportation industry. These crafts include employees on every Class I railroad, Amtrak, many shortline railroads, bus and mass transit employees and airport personnel. More information about the union is available at www.smart-union.org.

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On Thursday, March 23 – after 15 months of negotiations – the TCU & Shop-Craft Coalition reached a tentative agreement with Amtrak to settle each organization’s respective Section 6 notices for this round of bargaining. The coalition is comprised of the SMART Mechanical Department (MD), the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen (BRC), National Conference of Firemen & Oilers SEIU 32BJ (NCFO), International Association of Machinist and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), Transport Workers Union (TWU), American Railway Airline Supervisor Association (ARASA), International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB) and the Transportation Communications Union (TCU).

“We appreciate the patience of our members, and we will be providing all the details of this great agreement,” the coalition said in a press release announcing the agreement.

The specific terms of the agreement have been approved by the Amtrak Board of Directors; the details will be presented to SMART MD members for ratification in the coming weeks. This article will be updated.

Atlanta, GA, and Independence, OH, (March 23, 2023) — Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC) and the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers — Transportation Division (SMART-TD) announced Thursday that they are discontinuing formal negotiations regarding conductor redeployment to focus their efforts on implementing other immediate quality-of-life improvements for their employees.

“Over the next year, SMART-TD and Norfolk Southern have the opportunity to work together to implement important predictability improvements for our conductor workforce,” said Jeremy Ferguson, president of SMART-TD. “These scheduling enhancements, which were part of last year’s national agreements, have the potential to make an immediate positive impact for our conductors by giving them fixed days off and greater certainty about their weekly assignments. The willingness of NS to step back from plans to change to a ground-based conductor model is a welcome show of good faith in the negotiation process.”

Under the terms of the national agreements, Norfolk Southern and SMART-TD have a mid-June deadline to negotiate the details of these scheduling enhancements. Given this limited window, Norfolk Southern has withdrawn its current Section 6 bargaining notice on conductor redeployment to fully focus on collaboratively implementing these enhancements and other quality-of-life priorities.

“Norfolk Southern is committed to working with labor partners, including SMART-TD, to identify and negotiate benefits that will have a meaningful impact on our employees’ quality of life,” said Wai Wong, vice president, Labor Relations at Norfolk Southern. “While redeployment of conductors to ground-based shift-work will provide more predictable jobs and minimize time away from home, there are a number of other priorities that our labor partners would like to address, and we are committed to working together to make immediate progress.”

The withdrawal of the Section 6 notice on conductor redeployment removes the mandatory requirement for the parties to bargain over the issue, though voluntary discussions remain an option. SMART-TD and Norfolk Southern will continue listening to NS employees, relying on their input to guide the focus of their joint efforts and discussions going forward.

2023.03.22-Letter-to-NMB-re-NS-Local-Notice-WithdrawalDownload

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About Norfolk Southern

Since 1827, Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) and its predecessor companies have safely moved the goods and materials that drive the U.S. economy. Today, it operates a customer-centric and operations-driven freight transportation network. Committed to furthering sustainability, Norfolk Southern helps its customers avoid 15 million tons of yearly carbon emissions by shipping via rail. Its dedicated team members deliver more than 7 million carloads annually, from agriculture to consumer goods, and is the largest rail shipper of auto products and metals in North America. Norfolk Southern also has the most extensive intermodal network in the eastern U.S., serving a majority of the country’s population and manufacturing base, with connections to every major container port on the Atlantic coast as well as the Gulf of Mexico and Great Lakes. Learn more by visiting www.NorfolkSouthern.com.

About SMART-TD

SMART Transportation Division is comprised of approximately 125,000 active and retired members who work in a variety of different crafts in the transportation industry. These crafts include employees on every Class I railroad, Amtrak, many shortline railroads, bus and mass transit employees and airport personnel. More information about the union is available at www.smart-union.org.

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In the aftermath of February’s rail disaster in Ohio, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee held a key hearing March 22 on “Improving Rail Safety in Response to the East Palestine Derailment” to get to the bottom of what went wrong in the accident and to discuss the bipartisan Railway Safety Act of 2023.  

SMART Transportation Division Ohio State Legislative Director Clyde Whitaker answers a question March 22 in the rail safety hearing before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee in Washington, D.C.

The committee had an all-star cast of witnesses who testified, including: two U.S. senators; Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine; East Palestine resident Misti Allison, who represented the community; National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy; David Comstock, chief of the Ohio Western Reserve Joint Fire District; Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw; Association of American Railroads (AAR) CEO Ian Jeffries, and SMART-TD’s Ohio State Legislative Director (SLD) Clyde Whitaker. To begin the hearing, U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown and JD Vance kicked off the day explaining in detail the bill, S.B. 567, they’re putting forward.  

Brown began his comments by thanking the witnesses for testifying and referred directly to SLD Whitaker, calling him “an unrelenting advocate for safe working conditions for his members and all people working in Ohio railroads.”  

Brown then went on to discuss why this legislation is so necessary.

“Norfolk Southern followed the Wall Street business model,” he said. “Boost profits and stock price by eliminating, over the last decade, 38% of its workforce.”

He went on to describe Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) perfectly, saying, “They cut cost to boost profits. The communities along their route be damned!” 

Vance followed Brown, and in a tone very similar to the testimony he gave March 9 in front of the Senate’s Committee on Environment and Public Works, laid out that the intention of the bill is not to put the government in charge of day-to-day operations of America’s railroad companies like the bill’s outspoken opponents would like the public to believe. He addressed that concern of the rail carriers who have made it known that they feel the legislation is an overreach by Congress, where he stands on that issue by stating plainly that, “You cannot on the one hand beg the government to bail you out of a labor dispute three months ago and then say that it’s ‘big government’ to have proper safety standards in the way that you conduct your railroads. It’s a ridiculous argument, and it doesn’t pass the smell test.” 

Gov. DeWine followed the Buckeye State’s senators and weighed in heavily on behalf of the residents of East Palestine. He started by describing life as it was in the village of 4,700 leading up to events of Feb. 3, 2023. He walked the committee through the Norman Rockwellian Friday night where the community was keenly focused on the high school basketball game in progress until the unthinkable happened.  

“Life stopped being normal for everyone in this community — it stopped feeling safe — when 38 cars of that Norfolk Southern freight train, carrying hundreds of thousands of pounds of hazardous materials, hurtled off the track. In an instant, life turned upside down,” he said. 

DeWine went on to describe the tough questions facing residents of East Palestine revolving around their physical health as well as the viability of their community’s future.  

These points were driven home by witness Misti Allison. Allison, a resident of East Palestine for the last four years, was testifying in front of the Senate committee on behalf of her community. In her own words, her goal was “to put a face on this chemical disaster.”  

In addition to emphasizing DeWine’s points in reference to the health concerns swirling around in East Palestine, she shared other details about a community shattered. Among the issues she brought to the committee’s attention were home equity of the residents, the viability of local businesses and the concerning contradictions in the results of various sources of environmental testing of air, water and soil samples.

The most-telling and unique issue she brought to light was the still-developing mental and emotional health concerns of the community post-derailment. She pointed out the ramifications the derailment has had especially among the youth of East Palestine in her written testimony: “Kids are not allowed to play on the playground because it hasn’t been cleaned. So the kids now play a game they invented called ‘EVACUATION’ during recess. This train derailment has robbed our kids of their childhood, and perhaps more.” she said. 

This imagery is powerful and takes the importance of the Railway Safety Act of 2023 out of the realm of financial ramifications and puts it squarely in the arena of human rights.  

SMART-TD Ohio State Legislative Director Clyde Whitaker’s testimony before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee.

At the conclusion of Allison’s testimony, it was time for Brother Whitaker to take the rather large stage and speak our union’s truth directly to power. SLD Whitaker explained in detail the effects PSR have had on our industry from the ground level.  

In July 2022, Whitaker filed a complaint with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) directly reporting that NS had been ordering their crews to disregard warnings from wayside defect detectors in his state and to keep their trains rolling after receiving alerts of hot bearings.  

He informed the senators that he had personally cautioned the FRA months prior to the East Palestine derailment that carriers’ business practice and adherence to the PSR doctrine was putting our crews and communities in harm’s way.  

“PSR has made the Class I railroads more than $160 billion in profit since 2015 while at the same time causing the greatest degradation of safety in modern day railroading,” he said in his written testimony. “As we have all seen in East Palestine, this cut-your-way-to-profit model is not sustainable and it is very, very dangerous.” 

He further emphasized the impact of PSR on safety by talking about the current state of safety inspections of rolling stock and maintenance of equipment.  

“No longer is identifying defects the goal of inspections. Instead, the goal is to minimize the time it takes to perform them or the elimination of them altogether, so the trains keep moving,” he said. “Compound this with the fact that the railroads are on a determined course to grow these trains to astronomical lengths and you have a predictable outcome, and that outcome is East Palestine.” 

A member of the audience donned a hazmat suit while attending the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee hearing on railway safety March 22 in reference to the contamination that occurred in East Palestine, Ohio, after a Feb. 3 derailment.
A member of the audience donned a hazmat suit while attending the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee hearing on railway safety March 22 in reference to the contamination that occurred in East Palestine, Ohio, after a Feb. 3 derailment.

Following Brother Whitaker was not an easy task for CEO Alan Shaw of Norfolk Southern. He was noticeably uncomfortable, and his opening statement was predictably a rehashing of the same talking points he has used since the spotlight turned to him and his company in early February.  

When CEO Shaw and Ian Jefferies, president of the Association of American Railroads, completed their revisitation of industry jargon, the hearing was not over.  

Each senator was given the opportunity to ask questions of the panel. Senators of both parties took turns flogging Shaw and Jefferies about the holes in the logic behind their arguments and pointing out the contradictions between their claims and what Whitaker (a certified conductor and engineer) was telling them his firsthand reality is.  

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), ranking minority member of the committee, was clearly deferring to SLD Whitaker’s expertise, when the stories of the two rail executives weren’t mirroring reality.  

To sum up the committee hearing that took the better part of a day, it is safe to say that Sens. Brown and Vance seem to have assembled a piece of legislation that has wide support among their senate colleagues on both sides of the political spectrum.

SMART-TD would like to let Brother Whitaker know that his representation of our organization and of rail labor is a proud example of how we will continue to fight for our members and the communities they call home.  

SMART Transportation Division President Jeremy Ferguson appeared with U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown in Cleveland on Monday morning to discuss the bipartisan Railway Safety Act of 2023 as momentum for legislative action on railroad safety continues to build on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Brown and fellow Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, Pennsylvania Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Sen. Josh Hawley all are initial sponsors of the bill introduced March 1 intended to counter the negative impact Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) has had on public and worker safety.

Sen. Brown started off the press conference by discussing how the rail industry has gotten itself into its current state of disrepair. He came out of the gates dropping uncomfortable realities such as, “Here’s the story. The rail lobbyists have fought against rail safety for a hundred years.”  

Brown went on to lay out a list of parallels he sees between the current scenarios in the rail and banking industries. “When I first heard about Silicon Valley Bank, the first thing I thought was this is the same story. Corporate lobbyists with banks and railroads for 100 years have fought for weaker rules, weaker safety requirements. That’s what Norfolk Southern and the rail companies do. They lobby Congress. They too often get their way with the railroad’s regulators, and we see trains that derail much more frequently.” 

He went on to say, “We know what we need to do. That’s why I’ve introduced bipartisan legislation with my colleague, the new senator from Ohio. (Senator J.D. Vance) We want to address the number of (operators) on this train. The railroads, believe it or not, want a two- or three-mile train with 150 or 200 cars, with only one engineer on that train with no conductor. One engineer to drive a train that’s two to two and a half miles long with 150 to 200 cars. That makes no sense for the public interest.” 

SMART Transportation Division President Jeremy Ferguson addresses the attendees at the press conference Monday, March 20, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Following Sen. Brown, SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson made a statement of support for the bill as well as his vision for the future of the rail industry.  

“Sen. Brown has seen firsthand what the devastation looks like when we let profits dictate the safest course of action to take when moving America’s freight by rail,” President Ferguson said. “We look forward to working tirelessly with Sen. Brown and his team to realize his vision for a safer and stronger rail industry. This bill offers a chance for the nation to require the highly profitable rail corporations to take rational measures to get the industry to do what it’s designated to do. Which is move freight through our nation safely and efficiently.” 

Ferguson then spoke directly to those in power, saying, “We owe it to the people of East Palestine, Ohio, and to all the communities that have railroad tracks running through them to have the members of Congress do the right thing. Take back control of our nation’s supply chain from Wall Street’s profit-at-any-cost mentality.” 

President Ferguson rounded out his public statement offering this endorsement for the Railway Safety Act of 2023. “This bill has the potential to put safe operations into its rightful place as the gold standard for railroading, and not what the next quarterly report can bring.” 

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson shake hands following the press event Monday, March 20, in Cleveland Ohio.

This statement summed up what rail labor has been saying since Hunter Harrison brought PSR to CSX in 2017. Our safety and our ability to provide a reasonable work-life balance for our loved ones does matter. The time is now to end the industry’s experiment with PSR and get back to safe, sensible and efficient railroading that preserves the safety of general public and of worker alike.  

SMART-TD is very grateful to Sens. Brown, Vance and their colleagues who have sponsored this legislation for their leadership. We also are appreciative for the opportunity to make SMART-TD part of the discussion. The light they have shed on our issues and the amplification of our concerns has been incredibly helpful in our fight against PSR. 

Brown plans additional appearances around the state this week to discuss the legislation. The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee will be holding a hearing March 22 on “Improving Rail Safety in Response to the East Palestine Derailment.”  The hearing will start at approximately 10:45 am ET, following a 10 a.m. mark-up.

SMART-TD Ohio State Legislative Director Clyde Whitaker will be among those testifying at the hearing along with Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, a local first-responder from East Palestine and two carrier representatives.