“Ever since its birth about one hundred years ago the railroad industry, heart of the American industrial system, has been exploited for the enrichment of its private owners. The portion of the workers has always been long hours, low pay, unemployment, and bad working conditions; while the owners of the industry, who perform no useful service in its operation, have reaped billions and billions in wealth. The workers have always had to fight for self-preservation against the voracious sharks who own the railroads, and whatever modest successes they have achieved in defending and improving their living and working standards have been won only at the cost of unremitting struggle.”— William Z. Foster, “American Trade Unionism”, 1937.
The Class 1 railroad monopolies in their search for ever-increasing profits have decimated the railroad system so-called “Precision Scheduled Railroading”. In recent years, due to a lack of proper maintenance caused by these cuts, we have seen a massive increase in railroad worker injuries, deaths and derailments along with extensive environmental damage and inadequate service to communities.
We have seen time and time again the workers getting shafted by the bosses and their paid lobbies in Washington. Now is the time for the workers to develop their own independent progressive political action such as the organizations that came out of the Plumb Plan. With this in mind, the Campaign for Public Rail Ownership is a major step forward in building an anti-monopoly coalition led by a militant class-oriented labor movement.
Nationalization is the only step forward for railroad workers to maintain safe working conditions, and maintain and even grow crew sizes. With this in mind Labor United Educational League (LUEL) endorses the nationalization of all Class 1 Railroads in the United States.
In solidarity,
Labor United Educational League
Article first published in Labor Today on July 26, 2024
