U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) called out America’s railroad industry for putting profits over safety in his address to more than 300 members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) in Washington D.C. on July 29.
“Nobody in America understands the type of outrageous corporate greed that is taking place in America today better than workers in the rail industry. You guys are living it every day,” Sen. Sanders said. “This is an industry that has slashed over 20 percent of its workforce while spending — this is really quite unbelievable — while at the same time spending $225 billion on stock buybacks and dividends since 2010.”
The drastic reduction in workers at the expense of safety is a hallmark of so-called Precision Scheduled Railroading, or PSR, a business model employed by the majority of Class I railroads in America. PSR forces the remaining workers to do more with less, while safety takes a back seat to corporate profits. Sen. Sanders said the rail industry has doubled its profit margins over the last 20 years and has given more than $200 million in combined compensation to six of its CEOs over the last three years.
“Wall Street calls this ‘Precision Scheduled Railroading.’ We call it unacceptable corporate greed,” Sen. Sanders said.
The Senator has been a leading advocate for railroad workers in their ongoing struggle to secure paid sick leave. His February 2023 letter (PDF) to Class I CEOs and his March 2023 press conference (video) helped open the door for this much-needed benefit. But the fight is not over.
“What I found particularly outrageous was up until very recently, this was an industry that failed to guarantee a paid sick day to its workers,” Sanders said. “Working together, we’ve come a long way in overcoming that terrible injustice. Today, the large majority of rail workers have up to seven paid sick days, and we’re not going to finish this effort until every rail worker gets the paid sick days he or she deserves.”
The Senator concluded: “We are going to work together until the rail industry ends this disastrous PSR that has caused so much harm to rail workers in America.”
BLET members are in Washington D.C. for the union’s 2024 Eastern Regional Meeting. Mike Smith, Director of the Teamsters Rail Conference, is one of the guest speakers on the agenda for opening ceremonies on July 30.