by Nicholas Wurst & Claire Bayler
Worcester, MA
SMART-TD Local 1473 (personal capacity) & Railroad Workers United (personal capacity)
This article was originally published in Edition 13 (July 2023) of Socialism Today, the paper of the Independent Socialist Group. Subscribe to the paper to receive each issue in print and read the articles before they’re published online!
The near-strike in the railroad industry last year and the terrible derailment in East Palestine, OH, brought a wave of railroad workers and supporters to Railroad Workers United (RWU). The cross-union, cross-craft caucus argued for railroad workers to strike to win serious wage, staffing, and workplace safety improvements in the newest contract. These demands resonated with railroad workers who have seen nothing but concessions and betrayal from their union leadership.
The Independent Socialist Group campaigned within the rail and other unions where we have members, and in the community, to organize solidarity throughout last year’s contract battle. Our members within RWU are organizing among railroad workers and their families to recruit them to the union reform effort. In the process, we are raising socialist ideas about how to reclaim our unions, win contract battles, transform the rail industry, and win workers’ control of the industry in both the workplaces and RWU.
ISG members played a leading role in launching the New England Chapter of RWU this year for railroad workers, retirees, families, and supporters in the region. We met in person for our chapter launch in Framingham, MA, on May 14th. While currently the only active on-the-ground chapter, we hope this will inspire other members to revive former chapters like Chicago and build new ones nationwide.
RWU is campaigning locally and nationally to support a strong contract for UPS workers and a strike to win it. Teamsters at UPS may strike on August 1st. The railroads move significant amounts of UPS freight as priority traffic. RWU has a crucial role to play in campaigning for real solidarity action from railroad workers and unions, as the current union leadership is more accustomed to scabbing than solidarity.
Despite the restrictions on railroaders’ right to strike (thanks to the Railway Labor Act), it is still legal for railroad workers to respect picket lines and participate in secondary boycotts with workers like UPS Teamsters. “Solidarity” or “secondary” strikes are a crucial tool of the labor movement that capitalists and politicians have tried to stamp out. Railroad workers are organized at logistics choke points such as intermodal terminals. Here, containers and trailers are loaded and offloaded from trains and picked up and dropped off by UPS trucks. If Teamsters and supporters organize pickets outside, railroad workers at these facilities can refuse to work.
ISG members are working alongside and within RWU to make that solidarity happen. The New England Chapter has drafted a letter outlining the solidarity railroaders can and should provide to send to all New England Teamster locals and activists. We want Teamster locals and members to know about this opportunity and coordinate to make it happen. Railroad workers are discussing the contract battle with their coworkers and raising what can and needs to be done. We hope to help organize pickets, spread awareness, and build support among other parts of the labor movement for this crucial contract battle.
ISG members in RWU also hope to link this effort with the UPS Solidarity Committee efforts we are launching in Worcester, MA, Boston, MA, Portland, ME, and Providence, RI. Any union activists, socialists, and working-class people who want to organize support in the build-up to and during a possible UPS strike should reach out to get involved!
Independent Socialist Group 