Campaign to Oppose Single Person Crews
Since the RU Founding Convention in 2008 (and for 3 years prior to that in the form of the group Railroad Operating Crafts United (ROCU), RWU has waged a relentless Campaign to preserve the two-person crew on every train. While the Class One carriers have been determined to run trains with a single worker, we are just as adamant about maintaining a minimum of two on every train!
What’s Wrong with Single Employee Train Operations?
Outsiders may view single-employee train operation as risky, but safety and efficiency questions go beyond potential engineer emergencies. How will backup moves, accidents, equipment failures, and other operational aspects be managed?
A Brief History of the Attack on Two Person Crews:
After achieving the near universal two employee train crew in the 1990s, the carriers did not waste a whole lot of time before they set their sights on eliminating that second worker and achieving the single employee crew. And while they have yet to achieve their goal, make no mistake, this is indeed their objective.
In 2014, “When the ballots were counted in September, the workers had smashed the TA, voting it down by a 5-to-1 margin systemwide. The TA failed to win approval within any craft in any terminal across the former BN lines!…”
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Wheeling & Lake Erie engineers and trainmen have led the way and fought a gallant fight to preserve the standard two-person train crew. The fact that they are all in the same union helps!
More Information on the Fight Against Single Employee Crews
Trainmen and Engineers Win Contract, Maintain Two Person Crews at W&LE
The Rail Carriers first propose single crew trains in Section 6 Notice Nov. 1, 2004
RWU Bi-fold Flyer - National Campaign to Stop Single Employee Train Crews
Single Employee Crews - We say ‘Hell No’
Read about the Campaign at MRZine
Read the Popular Science Article on Positive Train Control
Kansas Becomes the 10th State to Require Two-person Train Crews
The Highball Fall 2012 Issue with Special Supplement on Single Employee Crews
Dr. Frederick C. Gamst on: The Designer as Phantom Crewmember in Human-Machine Systems, Including Those Computer Controlled
Despite Toxic Disaster, Railroads Still Want Single Person Crews
RWU Articles and Commentaries on the Minimum Crew Size Question
The Two Person Crew Fight - The Showdown is Close at Hand (Spring 2021)
Train crew size legislation should be a safety measure, not a partisan issue (Summer 2021)
Fight to Save the Two-Person Crew Gains Steam (Spring 2021)
To Win the Fight for Two Person Crews, Rail Workers Need a “Plan B” (Spring 2021)
A Rebuttal to Frank Wilner and Railway Age on the Crew Size Issue (Fall 2020)
Single Person Train Crews - Irresponsible Inefficient and Unsafe - Part 2 (Fall 2020)
Single Person Train Crews -- Irresponsible, Inefficient, and Unsafe - Part 1 (Summer 2020)
"The advent of new technology together with a decline in union power, coupled with the rail carriers’ arrogant disregard for worker and public safety has seen the standard five-person train crew drop first to three, and then to two crew members. Now the big railroad companies have their sights set on implementation of the universal single employee train crew. The only thing that can stop them is YOU! Please join with Railroad Workers United in our effort to stop the implementation of single employee train crews!"
