Skip to main content

S.M.A.R.T. Fighting for Train Safety

A little known fight, which could endanger the lives of thousands and even entire cities, is being led by S.M.A.R.T. (the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation workers) representing 44,000 workers. The fight is in regards to trains running with just one person. Now just think of a massive, two-mile long train loaded with tar sands or other corrosive chemicals running through your town with only one person at the helm. What if that person had a heart attack, got injured or fell asleep? Trains used to run with a crew of five in the 1970s. Now it is just with a two-member crew, which is unsafe when you look at the derailments and explosions we’ve been having; in one 47 people were killed and most of the town Lac-Megantic, Quebec was destroyed after government officials had granted the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway a special dispensation to run with a one-man crew to save costs. This is an example of irresponsible greed at the expense of lives of the crew member and the general population. The Sheet Metal Union, which I am a member, merged with S.M.A.R.T. last year and this is the union’s biggest test of its strength and the union will have to win this fight for the sheet Metal S.M.A.R.T. union and its employees. There is no alternative for one-man crews are just unacceptable. It is a safety issue. Also, the oil tank cars are unsafe, which just exacerbates the problem. This is a fight for everyone who rides on a train, lives in a city with a railway system or who drives across railroad tracks with in a vehicle or a school bus driving your children or grandchildren to school and back. It is everyone’s fight at this point. We need to support S.M.A.R.T. in its efforts to at least keep a two-man crew on trains. As a retired Sheet Metal organizer, I am very hopeful and proud of our union for taking on this fight. This is why we need unions—to fight for safety of everyone.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Senator Bernie Sanders & Team

The AFL is with Senator Bernie Sanders and it is the people’s only chance to push back against Elon Musk, who wants to dismantle our government. Musk family is said to have left South Africa because they could no longer exploit The native/black Africans so he bought Trump and now he’s laying waste to America in the name of progress. With Senator Sanders’ leadership and backing of all labor unions, we could put together the whole of 99 percent of the people and beat back the 2 percent destroying we what once had and stood for while also saving Social Security, healthcare for all, elder care, child care, while working on the climate change crisis (we are running out of time, as the weather is showing us). The workers need to go big, such as a four-day work week like other countries have; universal basic income (UBI) and Medicare for all for unhoused people, which would help get them off the streets. UBI goes right back into the local economies, which supports jobs for the other working p...
Post a Comment
Read more

It's Time To Pick A Side

It’s time to pick a side. You want to have and keep unions with good wages and pensions, then it’s time to pick a side. You want to keep Social Security for yourself and family, it is time to pick a side. You want to get or keep Medicare and Obama’s Affordable Care Act, then it’s time to pick a side. It is us against the billionaires. The very rich got that way off the backs of workers, and now want to strip everything away from those workers. It’s time to pick a side. The very rich can buy countries, then make the people get on their hands and knees and grovel and beg for scrapes that usually go into the dumpster. It’s time to pick a side. Is this what we want for our family and our future? It’s time to pick a side. Get ready to fight for you and your families’ lives. There is no middle ground with these greedy people for they want it all—all the money—all the power—all the land so where does this leave us when they have all the commons, like water, land and airways? It’s time to pick...
Post a Comment
Read more

Be Prepared For What's Coming

As of April 1, there are 288 new billionaires added to the list for a total of 3,028 billionaires with a total net worth of $16.1 trillion. This is what is against us. They want slaves and slave wages here like they pay in other countries. Trump’s Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick wants the slave labor corporations use in other countries to be brought back and have Americans do the work. “The army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little, little screws to make iPhones, that kind of thing is going to come to America.” It is save to assume if this happened, it will not be at union wages or a livable wage. Unions memers have to be prepared. Our old ways of doing things will no longer work and the oligarchs know this. All union members must start saving money and not go into debt. It’s time to question the difference between a “need” from a “want” before making purchases of any kind. It’s imperative that we become self-sufficient as possible, even to the point of gr...
Post a Comment
Read more