Posts tagged crew safety
Opinion: When union leaders are not working for their workers
October 14, 2026 // The rail unions’ latest top priority, the Railway Safety Act, fits the pattern. Recently attached to the House transportation bill, its centerpiece is a federal mandate to increase freight crew sizes. Leadership loves it because every additional crew seat written into federal law is a stream of dues that cannot be bargained away for things members might actually want, such as higher pay or better schedules. Although union leaders claim this is about crew safety and cite the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment as their motivation, they have been pushing for enlarged crews for years before the Ohio disaster.