In an important example of international working-class solidarity, SMART-TD, the largest rail workers union in the U.S., is asking union locals and members to help collect much-needed personal protective equipment for rail workers in war-torn Ukraine.
In a letter posted online May 1, the rail union explains, “Our Ukrainian brothers and sisters are not only obligated by their company to take that call to work but they also have the added obligation to keep the country’s supply chain, people, and humanitarian support moving while their country is under attack.”
By November last year, some 530 railway workers had lost their lives since the beginning of the murderous invasion of Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Among them, 23 were killed on the job by Moscow’s bombing of cargo, passenger and metro train lines. Of the many who volunteered to defend their country, 395 had died on the front lines. Another 112 were killed among the tens of thousands of casualties from Putin’s relentless shelling and bombing of civilian targets.
The latest victims are a railway inspector and repairman working for Ukrainian Railways. They were killed May 15 by Russian shelling of civilian rail infrastructure in the Dnipropetrovsk region in southeastern Ukraine. The two were Serhiy Derevytskyi, 48, and Oleksandr Prykhodko, 51.
The Trade Union of Railwaymen and Transport Construction Workers of Ukraine is asking for help as the usual sources for these supplies have been redirected to the war effort.
Work gloves, boots, safety helmets, earplugs, respirators, and protective eyewear are among the needed items. A full list is included in the appeal on SMART-TD’s website, www.smart-union.org.
The union is asking for locals or individual members to take up collections and send them to SMART-TD (Ukraine assistance), c/o Dan Banks, 6060 Rockside Woods Blvd. N., Suite 325, Independence, OH 44131.
— Naomi Craine, freight rail worker and SMART-TD member in Chicago.