The World Socialist Web Site has received a large volume of comments from railroad workers across the United States in recent days, which we are publishing to bring attention to our world audience the conditions in the industry. Railroaders voted by 99.5 percent for strike action this month, after working nearly three years without a contract under intolerable working conditions.
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia: “It’s totally pathetic. I struggle to find words to accurately depict how poorly CSX is operated. I’ve overhead morning conference calls in which no one seems to know how to run a railroad. Company-created crew shortages are a huge issue, as well as new hires quitting before they even get marked up. Morale is at an all time low due to the fact that every single person on the roster is expected to do the work of two people.
“We have a yard job that is one man on the ground, this unlucky person works 12 hours every day, walks an average of 9 miles a shift. In summary, it is an abusive, greed-inspired circus. If I didn’t have so much time on the railroad I would have quit already, but as things somehow seem to get worse every day I feel insane for even considering sticking it out till retirement. I always tell myself it can’t get any worse, but they seem to find new ingenious ways of doing just that…”