"The only effective answer to organized greed is organized labor."
~ Thomas R. Donahue
Our Allies and Coalition Partners
The Association for Union Democracy (AUD) is the only national, pro-labor, non-profit organization dedicated solely to advancing the principles and practices of democratic trade unionism in the North American labor movement. It is the premise of AUD that internal democracy makes unions stronger and better able to fight for the rights and interests of working people. We provide organizing, educational, and legal assistance to those fighting for greater membership control of their unions. As a non-partisan organization, AUD does not support or endorse candidates for union office or particular policies within unions. Rather, AUD supports actions which strengthen the democratic process, promoting membership participation, free speech and fair elections, so that union members can shape the direction and actions of their union. RWU has consulted with AUD on numerous occasions throughout the course of our existence.
The Climate Rail Alliance is an alliance of individuals and groups that actively promote improved and innovative rail transportation as an effective climate emergency response. Interests of members may be general, or concentrate on a specific area or type of rail transportation including freight, long distance and regional passenger, commuter, or transit (heavy rail, light rail, streetcar/tram). The alliance promotes collaboration, and facilitates the distribution of information and resources in support of individual and collective efforts. We engage in collective activities such as letter campaigns to Congress, legislatures, or other government agencies. We also endorse and support other groups that are active in fixing the climate emergency. RWU has worked with CRA in recent years.
International Longshore & Warehouse Union - ILWU is a union of all races and beliefs who came together with one single purpose: to achieve a better life for themselves and their families. West coast dock workers came together in the 1930s and built a union that is democratic, militant and dedicated to the idea that solidarity with other workers and other unions is the key to achieving economic security and a peaceful world. RWU has worked closely with a number of ILWU locals and rank & filers up and down the west coast over the course of the last decade or so.
The primary purpose of the Labor Campaign for Single-Payer Health Care is to increase and coordinate grassroots labor support for a Single-Payer Medicare-for-All healthcare system in America because we believe that health care is a fundamental human right and that the labor movement must take the lead in the fight for healthcare justice. Railroad Workers United has endorsed the concept of single payer health care and is affiliated with the movement to achieve it. Likewise, the Labor Campaign for Single Payer Health Care has endorsed RWU’s call for public ownership of the railroads.
Labor Network for Sustainability- It is the mission of the Labor Network for Sustainability to be the organized voice within the labor movement for policies that are ecologically sustainable while also advancing the movement for good jobs and a just transition for workers and communities hurt by the effects of climate change and by the transition to renewable energy. RWU is a dues-paying affiliate organization of LNS and works closely with them on a number of issues of concern to rail workers.
Labor Notes is a media and organizing project that has been the voice of union activists who want to put the movement back in the labor movement since 1979. Through our magazine, website, books, conferences, and workshops, we promote organizing, aggressive strategies to fight concessions, alliances with workers’ centers, and unions that are run by their members. Labor Notes is also a network of rank-and-file members, local union leaders, and labor activists who know the labor movement is worth fighting for. We encourage connections between workers in different unions, workers centers, communities, industries, and countries to strengthen the movement - from the bottom up. That movement is needed because workers are being hit hard by their employers. We have lower real wages, less job security, and smaller, weaker unions than our mothers and fathers did. For the most part, our leaders are doing a poor job of navigating us through the crisis. RWU holds our Biennial Convention in conjunction with the Labor Notes conference every two years, and we work closely with them on issues of concern to railroad workers.
Rail Passengers Association of California and Nevada - Our Mission is to promote the development of a modern, sustainable, environmentally friendly passenger rail system through education of the public and government officials. Our Vision is a comprehensive rail network of long distance, intercity, and regional trains, supported by and integrated with local transit, bicycle access, and pedestrian friendly stations. We advocate and participate in the growth of passenger rail not only in California and Nevada, but we are involved in helping to shape the national scene so that not only our members, but everyone has an opportunity to travel by rail whether it is across the country or within the communities where we live. Active participation means all “citizens” who are like-minded are encouraged to join us and work toward goals that will continue to deliver fiscally responsible, safe, reliable, and frequent passenger rail service. RailPAC will continue to provide you with information, and will represent your views. RWU is not directly affiliated but a number of our members are dues-paying members of RailPAC.
Rail Passengers Association - The goals of RPA are: Improve & expand conventional intercity Passenger train service; Support startup one high speed rail line; Increase connectivity among all forms of transportation; Safety for our trains and passengers. We believe the current Amtrak system is skeletal at best. Experience has shown that when additional frequencies are added to existing routes, revenues rise faster than costs. When new routes are added, ridership on connecting routes also goes up. The Vision map below shows our Grid and Gateway proposal, which provides a firm basis for a truly national system. All routes shown are assumed to have at least two round trips daily to maximize utility and connection possibilities.
Rail Users’ Network is a new concept in the representation of rail passengers. It is based on the successful British Passenger Focus model, created by act of Parliament, which has been serving passengers throughout the United Kingdom since 1948. RUN is different, however, in that it represents many different types of rail passengers, including long distance, commuter, and transit riders. It is not sanctioned by an act of Congress – but some of our representative groups are legislatively mandated by their respective states and municipalities, giving riders a seat “at the table,” and bringing the needs of rail users to the attention of those in charge. RWU is a dues paying affiltae member organization of RUN.
National Association of Retired and Veteran Railway Employees (NARVE) represents your interests in Washington by protecting and preserving your railroad retirement benefits, as well as represent you personally, when necessary, on issues related to your retirement benefits, without conflict of interest. NARVRE will keep you informed of any developments affecting your railroad retirement benefits through its legislative representatives and monthly NARVRE newsletter. RWU has no formal ties to NARVRE, but many of our members are dues-paying members of the organization.
Solutionary Rail proposes a strategy for shifting the economics of rail away from dependence on moving heavy fossil fuel commodities and freight for exclusively large shippers to diversified high value freight. It is our compelling "YES!" - an entirely doable vision that provides a win/win alternative to the boom and bust economics of ever-growing unit trains of coal and explosive oil. Solutionary Rail describes how track modernization, electrification and transmission infrastructure could augment the private rail infrastructure to speed up and increase efficiency of freight and passenger rail in order to draw freight and people off highways and airplanes and back onto the tracks. Increased speed and a capacity means better service to communities and producers all along the tracks. Solutionary Rail is a partnership that invigorates the our transportation and energy infrastructure, creates jobs, and serves private and public interests with the mandates that secures minimum crew sizes and labor conditions for safer trains and better jobs, return of scheduled freight and service to underserved communities; green the electricity used to power the trains; requires resolution of easement issues on tribal land. RWU is informally affiliated with Solutionary Rail and has worked closely with the organization since its inception.
The Southern Workers Assembly is a network of local unions, worker organizations, and organizing committees, committed to building rank-and-file democratic social movement unionism as a foundation for organizing, uniting and transforming labor power throughout the South. We seek to organize the unorganized working class across the South. We are the bedrock of our communities. We are a social movement. The SWA believes that engaging and uniting rank and file and un-unionized workers in the US South around democratic principles of social justice unions is critical to building a politically conscious and transformative US workers movement. RWU began working with SWA during the national freight rail contract fight in 2022.
Teamsters for a Democratic Union is a grassroots organization of thousands of members across North America, working together to rebuild Teamster Power. For more than 30 years, TDU has been uniting Teamsters to put our union to work for the members. We’re truck drivers, UPS workers, clerical workers, warehouse and delivery workers, public sector Teamsters — every kind of Teamster, and retirees and spouses too. RWU has worked closely with TDU since the beginnings of our organization in 2008 and beyond. A number of our members in BMWED and BLET are members of TDU. At times, RWU members have assumed positions on the TDU Steering Committee. Members have attended various TDU Conventions and other functions over the years.
Trade Unions for Energy Democracy (TUED) is a global, multi-sector initiative to advance democratic direction and control of energy in a way that promotes solutions to the climate crisis, energy poverty, the degradation of both land and people, and responds to the attacks on workers’ rights and protections. RWU is a dues-paying member organization of TUED.
United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE) - UE is a democratic national union representing some 35,000 workers in a wide variety of manufacturing, public sector and private non-profit sector jobs. UE is an independent union (not affiliated with the AFL-CIO) proud of its democratic structure and progressive policies. Of particular interest to railroad workers is that UE also represents railroad locomotives builders as well as railroad crew van drivers. Most UE members still work in factories related to the union's traditional jurisdictions — electrical manufacturing, metalworking and plastics, other UE members work as plastic injection molders, tool and die makers, sheet metal workers, truck drivers, warehouse workers, and custodians, and repair aircraft engines, assemble circuit boards, manufacture metal cabinets, produce industrial scales and make machine tools. RWU has worked closely with UE on a number of issues of mutual concern for well over a decade now.
The Worker Solidarity Action Network is a place where we are committed to building worker solidarity by sharing information and stories about workers struggles.