OCTOBER 27, 2023

Greensburg and Mt. Pleasant, PA

On August 29, UE Local 625, whose members build high-quality circuit breakers and high-voltage equipment, ratified a new one-year contract. The agreement includes a six percent general wage increase and a freeze on healthcare costs. It also eliminates one step of the contract’s wage progression, meaning that newer hires will now make it to the top rate one year sooner. Members also received a $500 bonus.

The agreement will retain the members’ existing health insurance plans, with no increases in plan design costs (deductibles, co-pays, out-of-pockets) for the duration of the contract. 

Employee medical, dental, and vision premiums will remain unchanged, and the new settlement continues the existing employer contributions to employee health reimbursement accounts and health savings accounts.

“Glad we got this agreement that builds off previous contracts in advancing the living standards of our members,” said President Mark Shaffer. “If needed, the members were ready to put up the fight to secure a fair contract… that helped us get a good agreement.”

The Local 625 bargaining committee consisted of President Shaffer, Vice President Chris Pratt, Chief Steward John Shifflett, Recording Secretary Leia Hernley, and Financial Secretary Bob Good. They were assisted by International Representative Karen Hardin and Field Organizer Ben Wilson.

The post UE: New 625 Contract Advances Living Standards first appeared on Labor Today.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has been assisting the National Transportation Safety Board in its investigation of the recent derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. That work will continue.

Our agreement with the NTSB limits some of what we can say today, I don’t want to speculate on the causes of the derailment in East Palestine, but I do want to emphasize a couple of items that were not raised in the preliminary report or discussed in today’s press conference.

First, we were very fortunate this time that there were three crew members on this train. They were able to respond to the emergency, uncouple the locomotives from the train cars and take other action. If this had been a train operated by one crew member it may have taken longer to react to the fire caused by the failure of the bearings, axles and other mechanical items. It’s not unusual for things to go wrong on trains and sometimes many things. This is why it is important to have experienced engineers and conductors onboard. But, despite running ever longer trains that routinely carry hazardous materials, railroad CEOs have pushed for having only one person on the train and to even use remotely-operated trains. This is a serious mistake.

Second, the railroads and their trade association, the Association of American Railroads (AAR), employ armies of lobbyists on Capitol Hill who are there not to promote safety regulations but to slow the implementation of federal safety regulations or attempt to eliminate them altogether. Over the past two decades, they have spent nearly a half billion dollars lobbying Congress.

In the absence of federal requirements, it’s important to note that the railroads will continue to self-regulate. Norfolk Southern Railway freight train 32N that derailed in East Palestine was nearly two miles in length. On western railroads such as Union Pacific, where I was working as a locomotive engineer as recently as last year, trains are often three miles long. The railroads have opposed any government regulation on train length; they have sought waivers to eliminate having trained inspectors monitor rail cars; and they have pushed back on the Train Crew Staffing Rule.

Already, the AAR and the railroads are pushing back against attempts to learn from this derailment. They are hiding behind the NTSB process and suggesting that we should wait for the final report, which is probably a year away from being issued.

There’s growing public awareness of irresponsible behavior by the railroads. Now is the time to toughen regulations on America’s railroads to keep both railroad workers and the communities our members operate through safe.

The post BLET President Responds to NTSB Preliminary Report on Ohio Derailment first appeared on Labor Today.

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio, February 21 — The following statement is from BLET National President Eddie Hall in response to recommendations released today by U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg:

Our members who work in the cabs of the nation’s train engines welcome efforts by the Department of Transportation designed to improve rail safety. In particular, we’re pleased to see the Secretary emphasize the Train Crew Staffing Rule. If the federal government is serious about protecting the public, it should immediately mandate that freight trains be guided by experienced two-person train crews with the eyes and ears needed to properly protect the communities along the rails, both now and into the future.

Rather than properly staffing trains, the Class I railroad CEOs have pushed for a transition from two-person crews to one and to even use remotely-operated trains. This is a mistake. Incidents, like the one we just witnessed in Ohio, would likely have been far worse if there had been only one crew member present.

Secretary Buttigieg also is correct in saying today that, “Profit and expediency must never outweigh the safety of the American people.” However, he didn’t say anything specifically about “PSR”, the operating model adopted by the nation’s largest railroads designed to cut corners and boost profits. I assure you the “S” in PSR is not about safety. Under PSR or Precision Scheduled Railroading, which in itself is an oxymoron, the railroads have cut the workforce by nearly a third over the past six years. They have reduced the number of thorough inspections of rail cars, along with other service cuts. Under the PSR model the largest railroads have lengthened trains to as long as three miles from end to end and intentionally slowed the supply chain.

Railroads largely self-regulate and PSR has led to irresponsible practices at the cost of safety, it needs to be eliminated or reformed.

The Secretary is correct in saying that, “A healthy and well-supported workforce is a safer workforce.” It’s outrageous that 79 percent of the American public employed in the private sector receive paid sick leave benefits but not locomotive engineers and conductors, the essential workers who keep the supply chain operating. Our union’s general chairmen are currently in talks with each major railroad about correcting this safety lapse and injustice.

(BLET Editor’s Note: The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has been granted “Party Status” by the National Transportation Safety Board and is assisting the federal agency in its to investigation of the recent derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. The union’s agreement with the NTSB prohibits the BLET from speculating about possible causes of the derailment.)

The post BLET President Hall’s to U.S. Transportation Secretary Buttigieg’s Rail Safety Recommendations first appeared on Labor Today.

Even with weeks of time bought with inexplicable delays, Keolis had shirked bargaining sessions last Thursday and this Monday, with representatives joining calls for less than a half hour each day and claiming they needed more time with financial experts to assess the Union’s offer.

When Keolis representatives finally began bargaining Tuesday, they claimed that the proposals from the Union would cost millions of dollars more than previously estimated. Bafflingly, Keolis failed to provide any data to support its economic proposals and could not say when such data would be available.

“These high-handed tactics will mean that the riding public, and the hardworking workforce of Loudoun County Transit will continue to suffer.” said ATU Local 689 President Raymond Jackson. “Our members move this region. They deserve better. This company had already delayed negotiations when it lied about not being able to meet with us until the 27th. Now they finally come back to negotiate with numbers they can’t justify and disappearing accountants. This is a disgrace.”

With riders suffering, as Loudoun County Transit operates bus service at minimal service amidst a monthlong strike, Keolis’ continual deceit has further prolonged this crisis with their frontline workers and misled Loudoun County Government and the public. Unfortunately, Loudoun County government has so far not levied any fines whatsoever for missed service against Keolis for its continued bad-faith approach which has lengthened the work stoppage.

Keolis had already arbitrarily delayed any kind of negotiations when it gave an unacceptable and substandard offer on January 12th and thereafter refused to set dates to continue bargaining. Instead, it deemed its proposal the “last, best, and final” offer and falsely claimed that it could not further negotiate with the Union until January 27th.

After months of fruitless contract negotiations, the frustrated Loudoun County bus operators, mechanics, dispatchers, and other transit workers had walked off the job on Wednesday, January 11th. On November 9, 2022, they had voted over 96% in favor of authorizing a strike.

“Our Loudoun County Transit members are fed up with the disrespect that Keolis continues to treat them and our riders with. Keolis refuses to give these frontline hero members enough to provide for their families. Shame on Loudoun County for contracting out to a union-busting company that only cares about their profits and shame on them for not fining Keolis for missed service,” said ATU International President John Costa. “We will not back down. This only makes us stand up stronger and more united than ever on our picket lines not only for the fair and just contract we deserve but for our passengers who deserve safe, reliable, and affordable service.”

ATU Local 689 stands ready to negotiate for a fair and equitable contract for its members that will guarantee living wages and decent benefits for all Loudoun County Transit workers. Moreover, the Union maintains that privatization has been a disaster for such a vital public service and that Loudoun County government should use every tool it can to stop Keolis from further bad-faith negotiations.

The post Despite New Talks, Keolis Continues to Leave Loudoun County Transit Riders High and Dry as Strike Continues first appeared on Labor Today.

Against the hike in the cost of living and the attack on rights
The CGTP-IN warmly salutes all the workers and the united trade union movement, who, on October
15th, organised a powerful day of action with large demonstrations in Lisbon and Porto, where
workers from all sectors and from all regions, converged in their struggles, taking to the streets the
demands of all those who claim for a general raise of wages, a 35 hour working week for all, the
eradication of precariousness, the protection of collective bargaining, the reinforcement of public
services and of the State social obligations.

Large thousands of workers and pensioners, as well as their families, made their voices heard in the
two cities’ streets, demanding solutions for their difficult situation, with the violent increase in the
cost of living and demanding a general raise of salaries and pensions as a matter of national
emergency!

Work and the workers must be urgently valued, thus requiring a policy that assures a better future
in a developed country, with decent work for the wealth producers.
The struggle will continue in the workplaces, companies and services, through actions in the near
future, on the concrete workers’ demands, for a different course for our country, of progress and
social justice.

Long live the workers’ struggle!
Long live the CGTP-IN

The post PORTUGAL: National Demonstration – 15 October – Lisbon and Porto General wages and pensions raise – A national emergency! first appeared on Labor Today.

Coordinated and rallied in their trade unions, dockers, ship workers, shipyard workers, metalworkers, “froze” on October 25 the largest port of Greece for 24 hours. One of Europe’s largest ports went silent by the workers’ strike.

Since dawn the workers were fighting the battle of the strike with determination. They made it their own success by crushing any attempt at strike-breaking by the employers.

At their side were workers from other sectors, youth, women, pensioners, expressing their practical solidarity, with the most characteristic images being recorded at the passenger port, where they had taken their positions in front of the catapults along with the striking seamen, even before dawn.

Akis Antoniou, President of the Piraeus Branch of the Attica Metal and Shipbuilding Industry Union of Greece, referred to the alarm bells ringing in the Shipbuilding Zone for a great danger from the continuous labour “accidents”.

“We do not accept that in order for PPA, COSCO, shipowners to make record profits, we will not know when we leave our families for our daily bread whether we will return home. The immediate health and safety measures at work are our first priority,” he pointed out and highlighted the union’s demands for protection measures at workplaces, strengthening of control mechanisms and implementation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement for all workers, the operation of a Health Centre with specialties related to the work in the Zone, a Fire Station and rescue teams, as, as he noted, it took 4 hours to extricate a metalworkers who was working at 14 metres high and fell into the tanker hold and is still hospitalized. “If he was bleeding he would have died. But even now, because of the hematomas on his head, we don’t know how he will be when he comes out of the hospital,” he noted and stressed: “We are continuing. We are next to each other and on November 9 on the strike we will have to flood Piraeus in the strike rally.”

The post GREECE: Piraeus Port went Silent during the Strike of October 25 first appeared on Labor Today.

Central Africans in Bangui still remember the long queues of vehicles and young people waiting for days at service stations for their supply of hydrocarbons. Alongside the service stations, the illicit sale of petroleum products by third parties has developed along the avenues and streets of the capital Bangui. As for the rest of the country, where there are practically no petrol stations, consumers are forced get their supplies in their own way from neighboring countries: Cameroon, Congo, DRC, Sudan and Chad.

Today in Bangui, curiously, almost all gas stations are at a standstill. Consumers (government and non-government) refuel from the points of sale spread throughout the avenues and streets of the capital. Naturally, the sale of flammable products in the open air and unregulated often leads to the risk of fires. Thus, in October, two cases of fires with serious consequences were recorded in Bangui.

The fight against the illicit sale of petroleum products, which was announced with great fanfare a few months ago, has ended up making the Government an accomplice in the illicit sale of adulterated products that endanger the functioning of several vehicles throughout the country.

At this stage, nothing is said and nothing is done. In the meantime, it is the populations in general, the companies and the workers in particular who are suffering the disastrous consequences of what is now called the “energy crisis”.

In such circumstances, the individuals who can provide the minimum service impose their law, known as the “law of supply and demand”. The people watch helplessly at the disorderly increase of the prices of petroleum products, basic necessities and foodstuffs.

As an example, and to speak only of the transport sector, the fees have illegally increased to: By way of example and to speak only of the transport sector, the costs are passed illegally to:

• Urban bus: 200 FCFA per person in the best cases instead of 125 FCFA;
• Taxis: 250 FCFA per person in the best cases instead of 150 FCFA;
• Motorcycle taxis: let’s not talk about it because there is no single price. As for the price of fuel, it is now in the order of:
• Petrol: 1100 FCFA per liter in the street instead of 865 FCFA at the pump;
• Gas oil: 1400 FCFA per liter in the street instead of 855 FCFA at the pump.

For the transport of people and goods between the capital Bangui and the towns in the interior of the cities in the interior of the country, it’s at its height. Moreover, this is what justifies the soaring prices  of  foodstuffs  from  the  various  prefectures.

It is to believe that in the current situation, the powerless Government no longer controls anything. Nothing is said and nothing is done. It is a total silence and the people in its diversity suffer.

Workers can no longer afford the cost of living on their meager, unchanging wages. We look forward to the resumption of negotiations as contained in the Final Communiqué sanctioning the end of the negotiations between the negotiations between the Government and the Trade Unions in December 2021. Social peace will be the price before it is too late.

Done at Bangui,
26 October 2022

The post CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: The shortage of petroleum products and its impact on the daily life of the population. first appeared on Labor Today.

We, the workers, must stand in solidarity all over the world to build a classist and solidarity trade union movement, uniting against all capitalist governments that have only one objective: to make huge profits through the over-exploitation of the workers’ labor and blood. Therefore, the CATH strongly condemns the unconscionable actions of the Macron government, which tends to underestimate the massive strike of the French working class.

The Haitian People and the Workers are in the midst of a struggle against the Core Group, the EU, France, Canada, and the United States in a fight to prevent the colonists from returning once again to sully the sovereignty of Haiti while continuing to exterminate the Masses of the People, the Workers who are subjected to the dangerous epidemic of cholera while taking advantage of the opportunity to monopolize our natural resources

On this basis, the CATH gives its full support to the struggle of the Working Class of Europe, especially in France. Dear Comrades, Colleagues and Friends, the CATH sends you its trade union and militant greetings. The CATH would be grateful if the WFTU central offices would forward this note to the French comrades.

Long live the struggle of the workers in the world,
Long live the struggle of the classes and the masses,
Long live the WFTU,
Down with all the sellout governments,
Down with capitalism and imperialism.

Fignole ST. CYR
Secretary General

The post CATH Solidarity Statement with the CGT of France first appeared on Labor Today.

Pursuing the policy of exploitative machination to fleece the toiling millions has been the general order across the global arena. We are delighted to observe, the workers of Greece are waging their fight in proper direction with strong determination for realisation of their genuine demands culminating to nationwide General Strike on November 9, 2022.

Likewise the workers of Greece, millions of Indian workers collectively under the banner of the Platform of Central trade Unions have been waging relentless fight against the misrule perpetrated by the Government of India.

Wishing all-out success of the movement of the workers of Greece.

With revolutionary greetings,

The post All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC) Message of Solidarity to the PAME and the Workers of Greece first appeared on Labor Today.

While details remain to be seen, anti-scab legislation would ban companies from simply replacing locked-out or striking workers. That incentivizes employers to bargain in good faith, work to avoid labour disputes, and ensure workers are respected and treated fairly. A similar law exists in Québec and in British Columbia.

“Finally! The federal government recognizes that corporate Canada has always held more power than the everyday working Canadian, and in order to fairly negotiate working conditions, the use of strikebreakers must be banned. This will make free collective bargaining more effective and meaningful for our members and Canadian workers everywhere,” explained the president of Teamsters Canada, François Laporte.

The legislation is expected to be tabled some time next year.

Teamsters Canada is the largest union in the federally regulated private sector. The represents over 125,000 members in all sectors of the economy. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, with which they are affiliated, represents 1.2 million members in North America.

The post CANADA: Teamsters Welcome Plan to Implement Federal Anti-Scab Legislation first appeared on Labor Today.