CHICAGO—(ENEWSPF)—November 6, 2017

By: Rosemary Piser

Railroad workers and other railroad craft workers across the Chicago area and the Nation will be holding a National Informational Picket on Wednesday, November 8 from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. and again from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. (CST). This action is being organized by the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division (BMWED) of the Teamsters Union. The BMWED represents the workers who maintain the railroad tracks and structures, such as bridges, on 99% of the railroads in the United States.

Workers believe that the railroads have refused to bargain with them in good faith. The railroads plan to raise the costs of the workers’ health benefit and refuse to give them fair raises to cover these costs, despite the fact that the railroads made a record of $14 billion in profits in 2016.

Tom Modica from the Norfolk Southern’s Calumet Yard said, “In response to our common sense proposal, the railroads flat out told us no and said they still wanted to increase our costs so they could strengthen their already record profits. This level of greed is equaled only by the CSX Railroad which decided to pay their new CEO Hunter Harrison $300 million in salary and bonuses. Harrison’s salary alone would cover the wage and benefits proposals that we are asking for.”

The November 8th National Informational Picket are intended to show that the railroad workers are willing and ready to strike if they have to. While the workers say that they do not want to strike, they feel that they are being backed into a corner and have nowhere else to go.

Wednesday’s actions will take place at:

Union Pacific, Proviso Yard, 5050 West Lake Street in Melrose Park

Contact: Renne Perez at 630-624-7321

Norfolk Southern, Calumet Yard, 2040 East 106th Street in Chicago

Contact: Tom Modica at 219-789-0468

Norfolk Southernn 47th Street Yard, 361 West 47th Street in Chicago

Contact: Jeremiah Yoder at 219-689-1478

Norfolk Southern, Colehour Yard, 767 Indianapolis Boulevard, in Hammond, Indiana

Contact: Corin Rodriguez at 773-410-9049

Norfolk Southern, Burns Harbor, Port of Indiana, 6662 – 6698 South Boundary Road in Portage, Indiana

Contact: Brandon Walker at 219-314-8761

Additional information can be found on Facebook or contact Tom Modica by phone at 219-789-0468 or email at [email protected].

Source: https://www.bmwe.org/default.aspx