Bernie Sanders to Warren Buffett: Give Rail Workers Better Conditions to Avoid Strike

With rail workers on the verge of launching a national strike over atrocious conditions and a lack of sick days, Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday called on billionaire Warren Buffett to intervene and ensure that BNSF Railway—a company that Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owns—offers its employees adequate pay and quality-of-life policies as negotiations continue to fail.

“In the midst of a potential rail strike, Warren Buffett, the owner of BNSF Railway’s parent company, worth $100 billion, must intervene,” Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote on social media. “During the pandemic, Mr. Buffett became $36 billion richer. He must ensure that rail workers receive decent wages and safe working conditions.”

Buffett—who famously said “there’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning”—has previously dismissed Sanders’ requests to step in on the side of workers in contract disputes involving the billionaire investor’s companies.

Members of several national U.S. rail unions could go on strike Friday as freight rail carriers refuse to budge on workers’ push for changes to attendance policies that the unions say are “destroying the lives of our members.” BNSF and Union Pacific Railroad both have points-based attendance policies that penalize employees even if they have to take a day off due to a family emergency or doctor’s visit.

“Penalizing engineers and conductors for getting sick or going to a doctor’s visit with termination must be stopped as part of this contract settlement,” the heads of SMART Transportation Division and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen said in a statement Sunday. “Let us repeat that, our members face termination for getting sick or for attending routine medical visits as we crawl our way out of a worldwide pandemic.”

Sanders, the chair of the Senate Budget Committee and a longtime ally of the labor movement, spotlighted the rail workers’ fight for better conditions on Tuesday, declaring that “the railroad industry, which made $20 billion in profits last year, cannot continue to deny workers paid sick leave.”

“It is unacceptable and dangerous for conductors and engineers to be on call for 14 consecutive days, 12 hours a day, and then face expulsion from employment for going to a doctor,” the senator added.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Biden administration officials have “been in regular contact with Greg Abel, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, while trying to find a solution” to avoid a strike whose impacts could be widespread. Unions have accused rail giants of engaging in “corporate extortion” by announcing an embargo on certain shipments in advance of the strike.

U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh is is likely going to meet with rail carrier and union representatives Wednesday in an effort to facilitate a last-minute deal.

Originally published at Commondreams.org.