FRANKLIN PARK, Ill. — “What do we want? Paid sick days!” chanted track workers and supporters outside the CPKC railroad’s community relations event here May 8. The rail bosses are touring a steam locomotive from Canada to Mexico to celebrate the merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern.
Members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes took the opportunity to get out the word about their fight for better working conditions. Some 40 unionists took part in the action. They handed out hundreds of informational flyers to people coming to see the train, and got a positive response from many.
“We’re asking for four paid sick days a year,” BMWE General Chairman Brian Rumler told the Militant. “We shouldn’t have to give concessions for what should be a basic right.
“CPKC want us to agree to have management do our work if we’re out sick,” he said, which would open the door to a broader attack on the union.
Workers are also opposed to a draconian attendance policy that explicitly imposes a harsher penalty on workers who try to use the union to appeal disciplinary actions.
He said the union held rallies at the train’s first two stops in Minot, North Dakota, and St. Paul, Minnesota. The next stops are in Davenport, Iowa, and Kansas City, Missouri.
Workers from Union Pacific, Metra and other railroads joined the action here. “We need to stick together,” said Renne Perez, a BMWE member at Union Pacific. “When we had issues at UP, workers from CP and Metra were here for us.”
Many at the protest had heard about the strike vote by engineers and conductors at Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City in Canada, and expressed support for the fight there.