On 3/22/18, Carl Jarvis <carjar82@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In my youth I worked several manual labor jobs. During my teens I
worked summers picking beans, strawberries, pie cherries and
raspberries. I also worked for a hay farmer, cleaning up the fields
after the bales had been picked up. We raked up the loose hay and
loaded it in a truck and pitched it into the hay loft. I also worked
for a fellow who removed trees. Some were single trees growing up
among the wires along the street, and other jobs were on estates,
thinning the protective buffers around posh estates. I worked in the
Green Giant pea cannery in Waitsburg, WA. And for 8 years I worked
for a drapery factory. There was not a single one of these jobs that
did not have the potential for injury. And there was not one of these
jobs where the bosses took safety precautions seriously. I have been
around a job when a person fell down an elevator shaft...and survived,
fell from about 40 feet out of a Bing Cherry Tree, cut off a finger
while cutting drapery material, and so many more that I can't begin
to list them. In every single case, the accidents occurred for the
exact same reason. The person in charge had to choose between the
safety of the workers or the profit. Profit always won. Always.
Most of my bosses were working for someone else, and their job
depended upon maximizing profits. We were expected to "cowboy up" and
spit in the face of danger. And when injured, we were expected to
accept the blame. And whatever you do, never get caught trying to
organize the workers, because only Commies do that sort of thing.
Carl Jarvis
On 3/22/18, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
http://themilitant.com/2018/8212/821254.html
The Militant (logo)
Vol. 82/No. 12 March 26, 2018
Bosses disregard for safety led to Washington
Amtrak derailment
BY EDWIN FRUIT
SEATTLE — Debate continues in Washington state over who is responsible
for the derailment of Amtrak’s maiden voyage over new track between
Tacoma and Portland, Oregon, that led to the death of three people and
injured dozens Dec. 18. While Amtrak bosses insinuate that the train’s
engineer was responsible, inadequate training, management’s hurry to get
the service going to generate income and the bosses’ disregard for
safety lay behind the disaster.
“There’s still a lot more that will come out concerning the derailment,”
John Hiatt, a former Burlington Northern Santa Fe engineer and 25-year
veteran railroad accident investigator for the Bremseth Law firm in
Minnesota, told the Militant. Hiatt lives in Washington and has talked
to Amtrak workers there about the accident. “A big concern is that the
engineer had only one trip on the throttle in the southbound direction
and that was at night.”
The National Transportation Safety Board released an interview with the
unnamed engineer. He said he had no reservation about his readiness to
make the run, that he had operated the equipment on three training runs
— one southbound and two going north. He said he knew there was a sharp
curve and speed reduction after milepost 18, but that he didn’t see the
sign.
He said the fact that there was a conductor training on the run on the
engine with him didn’t distract him. When he did see a sign posted 30
mph he jammed on the brake, but it was too late and the train derailed.
He was seriously injured in the accident.
Garrick Freeman, the training conductor on the engine, filed a lawsuit
against Amtrak Jan. 3. The suit said Amtrak violated the Federal
Employers’ Liability Act, which requires management to ensure a
workplace free of dangerous conditions. It also said Amtrak bosses
failed to adequately train its employees to operate trains safely on the
new route. Freeman also was injured in the derailment and spent the
month of January in a rehab facility.
Pennie Cottrell, a passenger on the train who suffered broken ribs, a
fractured clavicle and internal injuries, filed a lawsuit charging
Amtrak management with responsibility. They ran the train after
installing Positive Train Control, which can stop trains that fail to
slow down, the suit explains, but they didn’t make the system
operational.
In response to the public outrage over the Amtrak derailment and deaths,
the state Senate Labor and Commerce Committee held hearings on rail
safety Feb. 22. A number of rail workers, members of the Sheet Metal,
Air, Rail and Transportation union, known at SMART, testified about
unsafe operations BNSF managers pressed on workers.
“I have operated an unsafe train, safely over territory,” former
engineer Lacy Rodriguez testified. “The reason that I and others have
done things like that is because of harassment from the railroad.”
Mark McGaffey, a conductor and a safety representative for the SMART
union, described a rescue of rail workers his crew had to make after
BNSF sent trains out into a blizzard, stranding one crew in a tunnel for
10 hours.
State Sen. Patty Kuderer, from Bellevue, responded to the testimony,
saying federal safety rules are stacked against workers, who can’t match
the money and power of the railroads.
“Their health and safety were threatened, their lives were put in
jeopardy for real,” she said. “That happened because of decisions made
by management at BNSF, and nobody’s taking responsibility for it.”
Related articles:
Inspired by W.Va. victory workers organize to fight
Victory of W.Va. teachers builds labor movement
Get in a car, take a plane, join workers in struggle!
Appalachia telecom workers strike against Frontier
Ky. teachers fight threat of government pension cuts
Uptick spurs jobs, picks up confidence of working class
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