Author: alyssahansen

This summer marks 100 years since the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) was founded, the first African American labor union in the United States. As a tribute to Black History Month, celebrated each February, we would like to share their story. 

In 1925, the Pullman Palace Car Company was the largest employer of blacks in America. Pullman found them easy to exploit.  

Sleeping car porters worked long hours, as did everyone in the railroad industry, but they were paid much less than the conductors and other employees. They had to pay for their own accommodation on overnight trips and buy their own uniforms and meals.  They used tips to make ends meet and had no opportunities for promotion.  

Preparing and serving meals, making beds, providing wake up calls, and shining shoes for passengers who never knew their names was as high as their careers were going to take them.  

By 1925, the Porters at the Pullman Palace Car Company had endured enough and organized the BSCP to stand up for themselves.  

Led by their first Union President, Philip Randolph, they fought back. The Pullman Company mocked their effort, and the rest of the labor community was not quick to rally around them. With grit and indominable human spirit, they stuck to their mission.  

By 1937, the BSCP signed its first Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Pullman Company. This CBA meant that Pullman formally recognized them as an organization. This began a long list of BSCP accomplishments, including shorter runs, decreased work-related expenses, a living wage, and much more. They won the right to be called by name, which was posted in each car. They also established what was referred to as pay for preparatory time and delays, which we now know as Initial Terminal Delay. 

 A century later, this determined group of black rail labor activists has been largely credited with forging a path to the middle class for African Americans across the country.  

BSCP members went on to play key roles in the civil rights movement, bringing the fire of the rail labor movement with them. These men played important roles in our nation’s history and the history of Organized Labor. SMART-TD and every one of our members are indebted to their perseverance and strength.  

As we celebrate and remember Black History in America, let us salute the legacy of the BSCP. Through a series of union mergers, the BSCP is now part of the TCU/IAM union. SMART-TD is proud to work with TCU day in and day out, confronting problems new and old that impact transportation labor. The movement started by these men in 1925 is with us in the fight today and will continue to be in the future.  

WASHINGTON, D.C. – SMART-TD is raising concerns over CSX’s petition for the Federal Railroad Administration to approve a new Trip Optimizer Air Brake Control system. This technology promises to automate freight train operations from start to stop. While CSX claims the system will reduce fuel consumption and emissions, SMART-TD believes these claims are little more than a smokescreen for CSX’s true intentions: cutting costs at the expense of safety. 

CSX Proposal Represents a National Safety Issue

In response to CSX’s request, SMART-TD has put together an internal committee to research and write the union’s public comment opposing CSX’s petition to the FRA. This committee is made up of two State Safety and Legislative Directors (SLDs) whose states have CSX operations, (Bob Guy, Illinois) and (Don Roach, Michigan) and two SLDs from western states where CSX does not operate. 

Brothers Don Gallegos (New Mexico) and Gabe Christenson (Nevada) both serve as part-time union officers while also actively taking calls and working trains at Union Pacific (UP) and BNSF respectively. Despite their already full plates, they are dedicating time and energy to this important fight. 

Even though the SLDs from New Mexico and Nevada don’t have CSX rail lines in their territories, they recognize the imminent threat this move poses to the safety and well-being of all rail workers. Much like these two state directors, your opinions and concerns are valuable to our efforts to put together our objection as well. Even if you are not a CSX employee, please reach out to our Safety and Legislative Department with any on the job insight you can offer that helps us form an argument against allowing this technology to run our trains with less human control than we have now. 

Environmental Claims: A Convenient Fig Leaf 

CSX has positioned the Trip Optimizer Air Brake Control system as a step toward environmental sustainability, claiming automation of acceleration and braking will reduce fuel consumption and lower emissions. Fuel is the second-largest expense for railroads, trailing only labor. Railroads, along with the American Association of Railroads (AAR), have long used environmental claims to disguise their primary motive of reducing both their fuel and labor costs.  

The Risks of Automation in Railroading 

The Trip Optimizer system may automate key operations, including control of air brakes. But here’s the reality: this technology is not ready for prime time. Trip Optimizer has been in use for nearly 20 years, and it has consistently failed to perform basic train operations effectively. The system often struggles with throttle control, making erratic adjustments that violate CSX’s own operating rules. Even so, CSX wants to trust this technology with the most crucial safety function on the train, our air brakes. 

Wabtec, the company behind the system, understands that Trip Optimizer relies on Positive Train Control (PTC), yet PTC is based on the train lineup, not signal speed. This means that a train could blow through a crossover at 45 mph, even if a signal indicates a 30-mph speed limit. We all know CSX and the other carriers would consider this a small flaw in the program, but if the crew doesn’t catch the mistake and fix it, the small flaw becomes a de-certifiable 15mph overspeed event.   

Automated Trains are A Dangerous and Flawed Proposal 

A computer system or an algorithm cannot replace the skill, judgment, and adaptability of a trained engineer and conductor. Allowing a system that depends on flawed technology to control the train’s most essential safety feature is a dangerous gamble.  

This proposal is similar to allowing autopilot technology to control an aircraft’s takeoff and landing. The aviation industry or the American public would never accept this idea. It’s a solution that prioritizes cost-cutting over the lives and safety of railroad workers. 

A Call for Accountability 

CSX and Wabtec must prove that the Trip Optimizer system will not compromise safety. The FRA is responsible for ensuring that any waiver for new equipment meets the basic standard of maintaining or improving safety, not jeopardizing it. CSX and Wabtec must demonstrate that this system will not put workers at risk, and given the system’s flaws, it’s difficult to see how they could make such a case. 

We Won’t Sit Quietly 

This proposal is reckless, and we will fight it every step of the way. Join us in standing up for the safety of railroad workers and the integrity of our work. 

If you have concerns or input you want included in SMART-TD’s formal comment to the FRA, please contact SMART-TD’s Safety and Legislative Department at dbanks@smart-union.org by March 1. Your voice is crucial in this fight. 

Let’s stand together and show CSX and the FRA that we will not allow them to undermine our safety, our work, and our rights. 

For many of the mentors in CSX’s peer training program, their role is a source of pride.

These old heads strive to pass along their experience and expertise to new hires, knowing they would have been better off if an official mentor had been there earlier in their own careers.

Two weeks ago, one of them (whose name we are withholding to prevent any possible repercussions) was notified that his position was being cut due to lower revenue after a rough quarter for the Fortune 500 Railroad. He wasn’t the only one.

“I proceeded to tell them that doesn’t really paint a pretty picture in my eyes from a company that preaches safety,” he said. “And you’re basically cutting the safety department.”

Training cuts come with consequences

While a large portion of the cuts to the peer training program seem to be hitting smaller terminals, the effect is the same: safety and structure for new hires is sacrificed to save a few dollars.

Local 1760 Chairman Andy Wirth estimates that this is the third time in roughly three years that the railroad has cut mentors at his terminal.

“It basically shows us as a smaller area that they don’t really care about us,” Wirth explained. “We don’t matter as much as a large terminal. It’s really disheartening that you can’t put your money where your mouth is as far as these guys’ safety and their careers.” 

The mentor agreed.

“It’s kind of depressing for a company that year after year preaches safety, and we just kind of put a hold on it to make up for lost revenue.”

Structure suffers as managers drop the ball

But safety isn’t the only aspect of training that’s affected by the cuts. Structure and organization are not what they once were.

The recently cut mentor would make a checklist of everything that he wanted to discuss in meetings with his trainees.

With meetings scheduled before his role was eliminated, his latest agenda was ready to go, but now managers were leading the discussion.

Attendees weren’t impressed.

“Every one of them said it was a disaster,” he recalled. “I had for this last meeting probably 15 or 16 things that I wanted to talk about, and they all proceeded to tell me that only two out of the 15 were talked about.”

The cuts have also resulted in scheduling issues.

“Since we lost our mentor this last go around, our trainees have had issues with their schedule,” Wirth pointed out. “They have issues, but there’s no feedback as far as ballast-level coaching that they were supposed to get from the frontline managers who were supposed to take over the role.” 

More than just a training program

For Don Roach, SMART-TD’s Michigan Safety and Legislative Director, eliminating these positions leaves a huge void for new hires.

“The education piece and the knowledge of basic railroading skills, basic knowledge of regulations and why they’re in place for their safety…that’s one of the key things that’s lacking when they cut these mentor positions,” Roach explained. “Usually, it’s a union person in these roles for the most part.”

There are rumblings that the mentor’s position could be brought back if the second and third quarters are strong, but nothing has been confirmed.

Right now, he’s taking solace in the relationships that he’s built and the knowledge that he passed down to his trainees.

“I already had a guy call me, and he goes ‘If it wasn’t for you, I probably would have quit.’ That means a lot to me,” he emphasized. “It’s just something I like to do is to teach the guys, because I realize how hard and different this job is when you get hired, and it’s something I wish I had when I started.”