The railway workers turned down their contract and now it is before our federal legislatures. The House wrote in one of their requests for 7 days of paid sick leave. Now it goes to the Senate. I wrote each of my legislators requesting that They make the railway owners grant some of the workers’ demands. Like not having to be on duty for 80 hours straight.

They’re on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, this is what their work life is like. They have no set schedule, they can be called in on a dime. Where there used to be 5 workers now there are 2 per train. Management is expecting more and more from fewer and fewer employees. This saves the Railroad Barons money. And makes their profit margins higher. Same old shit, different day.

Working conditions have become untenable. People are exhausted. They don’t have regular days off like most other employees have. So they can’t plan any healthcare appointments. They work short-handed because it increases the Railroad Baron’s bottom line. What really ticks me off is that President Biden ran on a platform to do more for the workers and allow them to unionize. Now he is saying that they must accept the shit contract, unsafe working conditions, no sick-time off, etc. And make it unlawful for them to strike. On that, I call b.s. These Robber Barons are making big bucks on the backs of labor.

I was on the bargaining team with my union and the State of MI and know how bargaining looks and it certainly doesn’t appear as though the Robber Barons are meeting in good faith. the Big Railway companies are bringing in a lot of money: 41% more than ten years ago. But they don’t want to have to share a piece of the pie with the people that actually do the work and make the income for them to share with their CEO, shareholders, and owners. Well, the employees are tired of being fed a few scraps at the bargaining table, They want a bite of the apple. In a way, I hope that they do strike. See what happens to these companies then. It would really bite into their bottom line, wouldn’t it?

I don’t really want them to strike, because they could get fired and possibly locked up. And that would really suck. These people have families, have a life(such that it is), have recitals, and sports games to take their children to. But as it is they cannot even take time off from work for fear of being fired. All of this causes stress and stressors affect every inch of the body. From weight gain to heart attacks. Stress is associated with a higher-than-normal death rate. I’m surprised that the employees are not dropping left and right.

I just called my legislators and left detailed messages on their answering machines. I sent a petition to them, and I sent an email to them. I’m not tooting my own horn, I just wished that more citizens would contact their legislators and write letters to the editor. Maybe I just want everyone to be an activist and that is quite unreasonable.

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