The Southern Labor Movement Must Rally Behind the Public Rail Now Campaign

Perhaps the most important labor issue for Southern workers to rally behind is the growing campaign to re-nationalize America’s class 1 freight system. The movement is led by Public Rail Now, a coalition of major labor, environmental, and other groups working towards this common goal. The system they propose is one of federal ownership of this distribution system, where decisions would be made by a board staffed by the bosses of the big railroad companies, but also by railroad workers, railroad community members, and other stakeholders.

In the South, the benefits of the success of such a campaign would be hard over state. By multiple means, it would inject new strength into a labor movement that is under constant open attack by the region’s political leaders and their corporate backers.

First and foremost, it would give Southerners their first taste of rightful control over a distribution system upon which the livelihoods of the entire region rely. The entire Southern economy relies on the ability to use freight rail to transfer large quantities of goods efficiently. The regular functioning of the rail system is so important that lawmakers have decided that rail workers cannot go on strike without federal approval. Despite the importance railroads play in our lives, all the decision-making on how the system works is left to a couple of monopolies.

The system as it stands not only allows a small group of corporate leaders to extract monopoly prices from their customers, but it gives them the unspoken power to bend the whole Southern economy to their will. After all, how would any sizable town function without access to rail goods? It makes no sense for all of the decisions to be in the hands of a few corporate interests. It is only right that the average Southerner has at least some say in how this system operates.

Likewise, these monopolies do not have to overly concern themselves with the safety of the communities they travel through. The example of East Palestine, OH showed that the railroad monopolies care little about the fines and cleanup fees imposed on them after a derailment because these fees are small in comparison to the profits they make by cutting corners on safety. Such corner-cutting practices are also known as “precision scheduled railroading”, and it creates so much profit that it has taken over the whole industry. These problems are here to stay unless railroad workers, communities, and environmental groups are given a direct say in how the system is managed.

Additionally, the system would immediately introduce a direct experience of worker’s democracy to states that have faced the highest levels of labor repression in the country. With the low level of union membership in the region, those turning to unionism lack direct contact with union members and local examples to draw from. If all class I’s were made public with shared control from unions, every rail-yard in the South could become a fortress of support for our labor movement. Suddenly workers across the entire region would have nearby examples of how an industry can be managed by workers, perhaps even better than by private companies.

The return of class I railroads to public ownership would provide enormous benefits to the average Southerner. This goal is attainable, beneficial to the majority of Southerners, has been proven to work in other countries, and has worked successfully in the United States. Any group or advocate worth their salt will rise to the occasion, and join the campaign to have Public Rail Now.