Despite record profits, rail companies reject union’s demand for paid sick leave

A statement from the United States’ major freight rail companies left railroad workers feeling increasingly “disenfranchised and undervalued,” according to one labor organizer, as the National Carriers’ Conference Committee rejected a proposal from the third largest rail workers union which called for just seven days of paid sick leave per year.

While claiming “the health, safety, and wellbeing of rail employees is a top priority for all railroads,” the NCCC said it would not accept the proposal from the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division (BMWED) that the union introduced last week.

The BMWED had demanded the addition of paid sick days—modeled on a system used for federal workers in which employees accrue one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked—last week as its members voted against a proposed contract that was developed with the help of White House officials. That contract included unpaid days off for medical care, but no paid sick days.

Clark Ballew, a spokesperson for the BMWED, noted that having reported more than $10 billion in stock buybacks and dividends in the first six months of 2022, rail companies “can very easily afford” to provide workers with paid leave when they are sick, as they did during the coronavirus pandemic hit before vaccines were available to employees.

“It is not unreasonable… and they’d still be making record profits if they agreed to provide railroad workers paid sick leave,” Ballew told the Associated Press, adding that paid sick leave for employees “has become a norm in this society.”

Ballew posited that if the two sides can’t agree on a contract and Congress has to step in to avoid a strike, lawmakers may impose the proposed deal that excludes paid leave—a possibility that may be keeping the carriers from agreeing to BMWED’s terms.

The rail carriers said Wednesday that while workers lack standard paid sick leave, “comprehensive paid sickness benefits” kick in for long-term illnesses after four days of absence, but unions have suggested the companies are capable of providing employees with both long-term disability benefits and comprehensive paid sick leave, as other workers throughout the economy have.

Rail worker unions agreed not to call a strike until workers from across the industry, represented by 12 unions, have voted on the tentative deal reached last month.

A work stoppage could begin as early as November 19. The last nationwide railroad shutdown took place in 1992 after just one union rejected a contract and called a strike.

Originally published at Commondreams.org.