Rail Workers Deserve Sick Leave

 

Rail Workers deserve sick leave. 

 

We have heard terrible and tragic stories from rail workers who have been penalized for spending the day in the hospital with their sick children. A locomotive engineer, who, out of fear of being fired, was forced to skip his doctor’s appointment after experiencing unusual symptoms, suffered a heart attack and died in an engine room just weeks later. There is absolutely no reason why these workers should have to deal with these conditions in the richest country in the history of the world. 

Over 115,000 rail workers in this country are looking to you to guarantee them the dignity at work they deserve and to ensure that our rail system is safe for its workers and for millions of Americans who cross rail tracks every day. Through Executive Order, agency rulemaking, and any other applicable authority, we ask that you take quick and decisive action to guarantee these workers paid sick leave. 

We look forward to working with you to make this a reality. Sincerely, 

Bernard Sanders United States Senator 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Member of Congress 

Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D. Member of Congress 

Donald M. Payne, Jr. Member of Congress 

Rashida Tlaib Member of Congress 

And 20 more.  Sacramento area Congress persons have not signed.  Contact your congressperson. 

See letter. 

President Joseph R. Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Biden:

December 8, 2022

Thank you for your hard work in negotiating a rail labor agreement to prevent a lockout that would have caused severe damage to the economy during the busy holiday season. While this agreement was much better than the disastrous proposals put forward by the rail industry, it still does not guarantee a single paid sick day to rail workers who work dangerous and difficult jobs, have risked their lives during the pandemic to keep our economy moving and have not received a pay raise in over three years. That is unacceptable and must be rectified.

As you know, a majority in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives voted for legislation to guarantee seven paid sick days to every rail worker in America. Tragically, because of the arcane rules of the Senate, this legislation was filibustered by just 42 Republicans and one Democrat and did not make it to your desk for signature. It is literally beyond belief that rail workers are not guaranteed this basic and fundamental human right. Therefore, we urge you and your administration to do everything within your authority to guarantee rail workers the seven paid sick days that they desperately need through executive action.

The American people are sick and tired of the extraordinary corporate greed that has been taking place throughout our country. At a time when corporate profits are soaring, working families throughout this country are struggling to keep their heads above water economically. There is no better example of this corporate greed than what we are seeing in the rail industry. In the first three quarters of this year, the rail industry has made over $21 billion in profits while providing their CEOs with huge compensation packages. Meanwhile, in the year 2022, workers in the rail industry receive zero paid sick days. What this means is that if a rail worker comes down with COVID, the flu, or some other illness and calls in sick, that worker will not only receive no pay, but will be penalized and, in some cases, fired. We cannot allow that to continue.

Guaranteeing seven paid sick days to rail workers would cost the industry a grand total of $321 million – less than two percent of their annual profits. If the rail industry can afford to spend $25.5 billion in stock buybacks and dividends to enrich their wealthy shareholders, they can afford to treat their workers with the respect and the dignity that they deserve.

As President, you and your administration have a number of tools at your disposal to make sure rail workers are guaranteed paid sick leave. For example, in 2015, President Obama signed an executive order establishing paid sick leave for Federal contractors which ultimately did not cover rail carriers despite the fact that the Federal Government has hundreds of contracts with freight rail carriers. You can and you must expand this executive order.

In addition, the Secretary of Labor has the authority under the Occupational Safety and Health Act to set mandatory occupational safety and health standards for businesses affecting interstate commerce. We can think of few things that threaten the safety and health of workers more than being required to come into work sick and exhausted and we can think of few industries more quintessential to interstate commerce than freight rail.

Moreover, under the Federal Railroad Safety Act, the Secretary of Transportation has a duty to promote safety in all areas of railroad operations, to reduce railroad-related accidents, and to reduce deaths, injuries, and damages caused by rail carriers. Guaranteeing that workers are not operating trains or inspecting rail signals while sick or tired would fundamentally improve the safety of our national rail operations.

We have heard terrible and tragic stories from rail workers who have been penalized for spending the day in the hospital with their sick children. A locomotive engineer, who, out of fear of being fired, was forced to skip his doctor’s appointment after experiencing unusual symptoms, suffered a heart attack and died in an engine room just weeks later. There is absolutely no reason why these workers should have to deal with these conditions in the richest country in the history of the world.

Over 115,000 rail workers in this country are looking to you to guarantee them the dignity at work they deserve and to ensure that our rail system is safe for its workers and for millions of Americans who cross rail tracks every day. Through Executive Order, agency rulemaking, and any other applicable authority, we ask that you take quick and decisive action to guarantee these workers paid sick leave.

We look forward to working with you to make this a reality. Sincerely,

    

Bernard Sanders United States Senator

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Member of Congress

Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D. Member of Congress

Donald M. Payne, Jr. Member of Congress

Rashida Tlaib Member of Congress

Cori Bush
Member of Congress

    

       

Tammy Baldwin United States Senator

Sherrod Brown United States Senator

Martin Heinrich United States Senator

Edward J. Markey United States Senator

Elizabeth Warren United States Senator

Nanette Diaz Barragán Member of Congress

Richard Blumenthal United States Senator

Robert P. Casey, Jr. United States Senator

Mazie K. Hirono United States Senator

Jeffrey A. Merkley United States Senator

Sheldon Whitehouse United States Senator

Donald S. Beyer Jr. Member of Congress

Cory A. Booker United States Senator

Kirsten Gillibrand United States Senator

Ben Ray Luján United States Senator

Alex Padilla
United States Senator

Ron Wyden
United States Senator

Suzanne Bonamici Member of Congress

                                    

       

André Carson Member of Congress

David N. Cicilline Member of Congress

Steve Cohen Member of Congress

Lloyd Doggett Member of Congress

John Garamendi Member of Congress

Al Green
Member of Congress

Kathy Castor Member of Congress

Yvette D. Clarke Member of Congress

Danny K. Davis Member of Congress

Adriano Espaillat Member of Congress

Jesús G. "Chuy" García Member of Congress

Raúl M. Grijalva Member of Congress

Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick Member of Congress

Emanuel Cleaver, II Member of Congress

Debbie Dingell Member of Congress

Dwight Evans Member of Congress

Jimmy Gomez Member of Congress

Sheila Jackson Lee Member of Congress

                                    

       

Pramila Jayapal Member of Congress

Marcy Kaptur Member of Congress

John B. Larson Member of Congress

Ted W. Lieu Member of Congress

Grace Meng Member of Congress

Eleanor Holmes Norton Member of Congress

Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr. Member of Congress

Ro Khanna
Member of Congress

Barbara Lee Member of Congress

Carolyn B. Maloney Member of Congress

Jerrold Nadler Member of Congress

Ilhan Omar
Member of Congress

Mondaire Jones Member of Congress

Rick Larsen Member of Congress

Andy Levin
Member of Congress

Betty McCollum Member of Congress

Marie Newman Member of Congress

Chellie Pingree Member of Congress

                                    

       

Mark Pocan Member of Congress

Jamie Raskin Member of Congress

Jan Schakowsky Member of Congress

Ritchie Torres Member of Congress

Susan Wild
Member of Congress

Katie Porter Member of Congress

Tim Ryan
Member of Congress

MARK TAKANO Member of Congress

Bonnie Watson Coleman Member of Congress

Ayanna Pressley Member of Congress

Mary Gay Scanlon Member of Congress

Dina Titus
Member of Congress

Peter Welch Member of Congress