Vol. 79/No. 37      October 19, 2015

But it’s the profit-hungry owners of the railroad and Canadian government officials who should be in the dock. They OK’d the deadly “cost-saving” measures, from cuts in maintenance to imposing the one-man “crew.” The Militant pledges to continue to offer a voice for this key labor defense battle.

If you can, join the Oct. 11 rally for rail safety in Lac-Mégantic, demanding the railroad fix its tracks before more deadly hazardous cargo is hauled through the area.

Help get out the facts about what happened in Lac-Mégantic and the fight to defeat the frame-up of the two rail workers. Raise it in your union.

In their drive to squeeze more profits out of fewer workers, the rail bosses have imposed conditions that guarantee more disasters: cuts in crew size, brutally long hours and irregular schedules, skimping on track maintenance and equipment, excessively long and heavy trains. Workers in other industries face similar attacks. Safety was the key issue in the national oil workers strike earlier this year. Questions of hours, schedules and relentless pressure to do more, faster, with fewer workers are key issues in the fights of nurses, fast-food workers and many others today.

To address these conditions, we need to fight for workers control of safety on the job. We need to build unions that are strong enough to stop production until unsafe conditions are fixed.

There are immediate safety measures we should fight for to reduce the risks to life and limb for rail workers and the communities the trains pass through: make it illegal for the railroads to operate without a minimum crew of four; restore the caboose at the end of every train; mandate a maximum train length of 50 cars; and immediate use of double-hulled cars to haul oil and other hazardous materials.

It’s a fight in the interest of all workers and those who live near the railroad tracks. Help defeat frame-up charges against Tom Harding and Richard Labrie!
 
 
Related articles:
Lac-Mégantic rail safety fight is ‘needed now more than ever’
Fiat Chrysler workers vote down contract to protest two-tier wages
‘As long as ATI doesn’t budge, we’ll be out here’
On the Picket Line
Fast-food workers lead fight for $15 in Chicago suburbs
 
 
 
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