Vol. 79/No. 27      August 3, 2015

It is two years since 47 people were killed in the town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, by a train derailment that destroyed the core of the town, released 1.5 million gallons of crude oil into the lake and contaminated 560,000 tons of soil. Instead of implementing measures to ensure rail safety, the companies and governments responsible have framed up the locomotive engineer, Tom Harding, and are threatening him with life imprisonment.

Harding, a member of the United Steelworkers union, was the one-man crew on the train. When the explosion happened he risked his life to depressurize brakes and avoid further destruction, making him a hero in the eyes of many in town. He now faces 47 counts of criminal negligence causing death.

Unionists internationally and everyone who supports rail safety should now join in the campaign to drop the charges against Harding.

The propertied capitalists use their courts and governments to attack working people. This is why we need our own political party, a labor party to unite us in action to defend ourselves and to chart a course to take political power out of their hands. It’s the only way we will be able to enforce safety, while using the energy resources of oil, nuclear, coal, and other sources, as developed, to provide electricity to the toilers of the world.

We should use the example of the rail unions at the BNSF Railway when they voted last year by an overwhelming majority to reject a company proposal to reduce crew size to one person. We need to immediately organize to implement emergency measures for safety of rail workers and the communities the trains travel through.

Make it illegal for the railroads to operate without four-person crews to defend the safety of rail workers and the public. A minimum of two crew members on the engines at each end of oil trains.

Mandate a maximum train length of 50 rail cars, and immediate use of double-hulled cars to haul oil, natural gas, and all hazardous materials.

Reduce train speeds of oil trains.

Order the railroads to open their books to provide immediate and total transparency in the disclosure of all oil train contents and traffic and order oil and energy companies to disclose all pipeline contents to the communities affected.

Create statewide emergency response plans to prepare for any oil train/pipeline explosions or spills.

For information on Harding’s defense go to: www.tomhardingdefensefund.com.
 
 
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