A crucial labor battle is currently unfolding between railroad workers and BNSF Railway, the largest freight railroad network in North America. Earlier in January, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART-TD), which together represent roughly 17,000 railroad workers, initiated steps to prepare for a strike that would have begun on the Feb. 1. This would comprise the largest railway strike in recent memory, and the unions have cited as the main point of contention a new BNSF scheduling and availability policy that workers say will separate them from their families and make it next to impossible to live and reasonably plan their lives. BLET National President Dennis Pierce and SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson called BNSF’s so-called “Hi-Viz†policy “the worst and most egregious attendance policy ever adopted by any rail carrier.â€
However, on Tuesday, Jan. 25, a US District Court judge granted BNSF a temporary restraining order blocking the two unions from striking, saying that a strike would cause the rail company “substantial, immediate and irreparable harm.†In this interview, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with retired railroad worker and union leader Jeff Kurtz about BNSF’s “Hi-Viz†policy and why workers in the railroad industry are prepared to strike.
Jeff Kurtz was a railway engineer and union member for 40 years. He served as a union officer most of his career, including 8 years as president of BLET Local 391 and chairman of the BLET Iowa State Legislative Board, where he oversaw safety and legislative matters for the union in the state for four railroads for 10 years. He retired in 2014 and served as state representative for one term in the Iowa House after winning the 2018 election in his House district. He now works in a volunteer capacity with Railroad Workers United and the local labor chapter of the Iowa Federation of Labor.
Read the transcript of this interview:
Pre-Production/Studio/Post-Production: Cameron Granadino
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** (Disclaimer: This video content is intended for educational and informational purposes only) **
start the train and walk get off before it starts moving fast. Whoops.
We have a name for if. Corporate Fascism. Brought to America single handed by Exxon. We already been there, I'm retired, I can talk about it. Standard military operating procedure & with all the bullshit, paperwork & classes, they cannot possibly turn a legitimate profit. Days off? Vacation.
Oil industry. 24/7. You got 20min.
BNSF is in the wrong for over work there works for what comes up
Look at who owns bnsf! Not gonna happin unless they wild cat strike, I worked as a conductor for 6 years and if they cant take off but 1 day a month roughly the workers will brake, its a rough life to live and no human needs to be put in that kind of scenario .
Hope everybody doesn't gets sick at one time
Shut the System down. Make the rich suffer in our stead.
This means that the way forward is by workers taking matters into their own hands. BNSF workers should organize themselves into a rank-and-file committee, independent of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Union-Transportation Division (SMART-TD), the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and the other unions and develop their own independent initiative and appeal for the broadest possible support among other railway workers and workers in other industries.
The regression of worker's rights coincides with the rise in Reagan worship in this country. Reagan's union busting started us down this dark path, and I do not see any light at the end of the tunnel.
The suppression on videos like this incontestable, it’s blatantly obvious that YT suppresses any dissident content
Thank God pre 84 pass poor unions
Screw that judge
For everyone saying just strike, we can’t under the Railway labor act, it’s been in place since 1926, the money is so great the courts get involved.
Strike anyways! The rule of law only applies to poor & working class people, not corporations, billionaires or our "representatives" in government. This is madness. STRIKE ANYWAYS
Unions have become what they became members for. We are now a global 24/7/365 with corporations owning most everything therefor Unions are more necessary now than ever. Jobs will be moved. Truck drivers and the like are being replaced asap. People are consumers… machines are not.
It seems like workers don't have rights, they only have obligations.
As a non union truck driver… it is always about safety until $$$ are involved. PERIOD!
Leave it to a Texas judge.
The contract is void when conditions are added after an agreement is made.
A court doesn't have the power or authority to force a man to perform a service to anyone !