Politically, the time is ripe for this petition and we wholeheartedly applaud the initiative of Brothers Futhey and Rodzwicz. We hope this leads to many more such cooperative actions in the future.  We also hope that the BLET and UTU are actively seeking the public support of the eleven other unions which represent rail workers in the US.

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Railroad Workers United urges all rail union members across the U.S. to join us in a show of SOLIDARITY by wearing a BLACK SHIRT to work on Friday, June 19th, Fathers Day Weekend.(Press Release  Here)

A few weeks ago on Mother's Day, Conductor Jared Boehlke was killed in the line of duty while working RCO alone in Selkirk, NY. A few days later, signal maintainer John Pichalski, Jr. was killed in Middletown, Pa.,  while repairing a damaged railroad crossing. His death brought the total for 2009 to twelve.

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Thanks to everyone's efforts we are now at 4,359 signatures on our petition drive to change railroad retirement.  That is rank and file signatures from all rail labor organizations and to date it represents responses from 27 states!!  .

You can help with the campaign to reform Railroad Retirement.  Download, print and circulate the RWU Reform Railroad Retirement RESOLUTION, FLYER and PETITION.

WASHINGTON - A special pension fund for railroad workers that was given permission during the Bush administration to invest its assets in the stock market lost more than a third of its value during a recent 18-month period, a loss that could influence an ongoing debate about how to keep government-affiliated retirement programs solvent.

Video from workshop with Nancy Lessin about Behaviorial Based Safety programs like the TSC and WPO

The Union Pacific has TSC(Total Safety Culture) and The BNSF has WPO(Work Practices Observation) Programs I am not sure about other carriers out there who are under similar programs, but if it is based on your working behavior your company is starting on you. These are Behavior Based Safety Programs, Take a look at this Video, I sincerely believe your Local committees will be more informed about making decisions about these programs if all their members see this Video. The consequences of doing the BBS are long term.

RWU makes the case for union leadership on Blame-the-Worker safety programs!

Click HERE for the complete article in .pdf.

Click HERE for the condensed version in .pdf.

Here's where RWU members are located as of 11/08/2008. Have you signed up for a better future for rail workers yet? Sign up here.

We receive these SMART Merger updates from the brothers & sisters of Save Our Union.

Railroaders and Unions need a real safety program, not "blame-the workers" safety programs!

For those of us employed by the railroad we have seen many programs implemented by management come and go. The new flavor of the month for Union Pacific TE&Y employees is the system wide implementation of a behavioral based blame-the worker safety program knows as Total Safety Culture, TSC for short. Blame the workers safety programs include:

Congratulations to the BLET & UTU for a cooperative action!

RWU's ongoing effort to fight total safety culture on the UP continues with our new pins

Hazards Pin

Union Pacific’s upper management has, in the past, proclaimed a complete, unequivocal commitment to the values of the Total Safety Culture program. But as we have often seen, as these programs are implemented by local management to employees on the job, the commitment becomes one of just lip service. Actual local conditions remain the same or may even deteriorate.

In this 1906 appeal to railroad workers,  Debs issues a wakeup call.. He decries ignorance of basic political economy in the railroad working class and says in no uncertain terms that without class consciousness, there is no hope for a change for the better. His message rings true again today, as we face the most serious economic crisis in our lifetimes.

Statement by Railroad Workers United

from CounterPunch - "America's Best Political Newsletter"

“Also being debated [at the AFL-CIO executive council meeting] is whether to create a mechanism to nudge past-their-prime union presidents to retire so unions are not stuck with tired, uninspired leaders. One negotiator [of AFL-CIO/ Change-to-Win/NEA unity] talked of creating an advisory “Labor House of Lords” to encourage older union presidents to step aside.”

    --The New York Times, March 9, 2009

by David Bacon for Monthly Review

During the Cold War, many of the people with a radical vision of the world were driven out of our labor movement. Today, as unions search for answers about how to begin growing again, and regain the power workers need to defend themselves, the question of social vision has become very important. What is our vision in labor? What are the issues that we confront today that form a more radical vision for our era?

America, and its faltering economy, need unions to restore prosperity to the middle class.

Robert Reich, from the Los Angeles Times, January 26, 2009

Getting the economy back on its feet, giving taxpayers a break, saving your retirement fund and your kid's college tuition? Done. And it won't cost you a penny.

By David Cay Johnston, Mother Jones Magazine-->   January/February 2009 Issue

This year happens to be the 75th anniversary of the New Deal, a revolution in governmental philosophy that began with the Emergency Banking Act of 1933. That first piece of New Deal legislation was a hurried response to the worst banking crisis in U.S. history - until now.

By Charley Richardson

Solidarity forms the bedrock of the labor movement, but there is remarkably little discussion of it—what it really is, where it comes from, and how to build it.

reprinted with permission from Association for Union Democracy