11.30.22 – Flight Attendants Stand with Rail Workers | Call Your Senators Now

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Flight Attendants Stand with Rail Workers
Call Your Senators Now → 202-224-3121

Flight Attendants and Rail Workers are fighting for the same things: respect and a fair contract.

Flight Attendants stand with Railroad Workers. Their fight is our fight! Railroad workers are under the Railway Labor Act – the same labor law we fall under. We are working hand in hand with Flight Attendants across the industry, including our sister union AFA-CWA, to tell Congress to correct this now. It’s all up to the Senate and we can make a big difference for more than 100,000 workers with our calls right now. We need to lift standards for rail, so we can lift standards in the air and every workplace across the country.

The House of Representatives passed two bills today – one bill to lock in the tentative agreement brokered by the Presidential Emergency Board and thus avert a strike, and the second bill to add seven days of paid sick leave to the contract, the major sticking point between unions and companies. The legislation now goes to the Senate. Make two calls in solidarity this week. Labor stands together.

As it stands, rail workers do not have a single day of guaranteed paid sick leave. Call 202-224-3121 to demand your Senators vote FOR seven days of guaranteed paid sick days for railroad workers!

No one wants to see the rail workers go on strike, but they deserve fundamental workers’ rights like paid sick leave. Even with the pandemic in the rearview mirror, we are human and will inevitably get sick. Meanwhile, rail companies have made record profits and spent BILLIONS on stock buybacks. So, let’s be clear – it’s not because rail can’t afford basic paid sick leave for their workforce. Corporate greed must be reined in.

Union leaders and railroad management negotiated for more than two and a half years for new contracts without success. The Presidential Emergency Board instated significant wage increases and health care benefits. But the parties have remained at odds over the complete absence of sick leave amidst a new scheduling program that provides minimal flexibility. Now, just days before rail workers are able to strike, Congress has the power and responsibility to ensure these workers have access to basic sick leave policies.

Rail carriers also oppose a new staffing system which created record profits but cost the industry 40,000 jobs, mainly among the people who actually operate the trains, leading to brutal schedules and dangerous working conditions. The new system, called Precision Schedule Railroading (PSR), made trains far more efficient by keeping workers on very tight schedules that leave little time for anything but work. Any disruption in those schedules—a family emergency, for example—brought disciplinary action and possible job loss. (Sound familiar?)

This all could have been avoided had the railroads been willing to provide their employees with a basic protection and what so many Americans already have: paid sick time. We must move forward, not backward. The Senate now has the power to put corporate greed in check. A rising tide lifts all boats.

Call 202-224-3121 (or look up direct contract info at senate.gov) to demand your Senators vote FOR seven days of guaranteed paid sick days for railroad workers!

Stay informed. Stay involved.

In Solidarity,

Allie Malis
APFA Government Affairs Representative

Lori Glattly
APFA Government Affairs Representative

[email protected]