The railroads want to opt out of the federal safety hotline program, because
they want to punish employees who report safety issues.
They are straight out saying that they will retaliate against employees for reporting safety violations.
I am pretty sure that is against the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, anti-racketeering statutes, and any the National Labor Relations Act as a minimum.
Then again, what do I know? I'm an engineer, not a lawyer, dammit.*
Why the hell haven't the executives been arrested?
The major freight railroads say a disagreement over whether they will be allowed to discipline some workers who use a government hotline to report safety concerns has kept them from following through on the promise they made in March to join the program after a fiery Ohio derailment prompted calls for reforms.
Unions and workplace safety experts say the idea of disciplining workers who report safety concerns undermines the purpose of creating such a hotline because workers won't use it if they fear retribution. Programs like this one overseen by the Federal Railroad Administration are especially important in an industry like railroads where there is a long history of workers being fired for reporting safety violations or injuries, experts say.
"Their opposition to this hotline — which only increases protection for public and workers — is just part of a decades-old effort to suppress reporting of injury and hazards so that they can appear to the public and regulators as safer than they are," said Debbie Berkowitz, who used to be a top-ranking official at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration during the Obama administration. "I mean, that's what this is all about."
The head of the Association of American Railroads trade group, Ian Jefferies, said Thursday in a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg that the railroads' concern is that the system could be abused by workers who try to avoid discipline by reporting situations a railroad already knows about to the hotline.
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For years, all the major freight railroads resisted joining the safety hotline because of this concern and because they believe their own internal reporting systems are sufficient. Meanwhile, railroad unions consistently said workers are reluctant to use the railroads' own safety hotlines because they fear retribution.
Of course they fear retribution. The railroads have been abusing their employees for trying to be safe for decades.
………
"This is really old-school, tired rhetoric that blames the worker for the failures that are inherent in all complicated systems. Blaming the worker is exactly what leads workers to not report unsafe conditions in the workplace," said [Railroad union representative Vince] Verna, who serves on the committee of labor groups, railroads and safety regulators who have been trying to find a way to make this program work ever since Jefferies announced the railroads would sign on to it. That group is set to meet again next week.
Federal Railroad Administration spokesman Warren Flateau said the railroads clearly need to do more to fulfill their promise to join the safety reporting program that would give workers several ways to report concerns, including an online option and an old-fashioned printed form that can be filled out anonymously.
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"Current federal data shows that approximately every three hours, there is a reportable injury. Approximately every eight hours, there is a derailment that reaches the FRA's reporting threshold of $11,500 in damage," said Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department coalition. "In other words, three times every day there could be another East Palestine. But we believe this program could help mitigate such future disasters."
The railroads execs don't care about future disasters, they know that they will get bailed out by the authorities when it happens the next, so it's not their money or their health that's on the line.
Frog march them out of their offices in handcuffs.
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