Train Wrecks: Rail Bosses Are Putting Lives at Risk; Deeper Into NYC’s Medicare Advantage Mess

The Joe Biden-brokered agreement between the nation’s rail carriers and labor remains in doubt this week. Photo courtesy of Railroad Workers United.

By BOB HENNELLY

Stuck Nation: The Radio Labor Hour Oct. 17, 2022 

Part I. National update on how the nation's dozen rail unions are voting on the tentative contract deal brokered by President Biden with the rail carriers and the unions' leadership. Mark Burrows, a retired locomotive engineer and member of the Railroad Workers United, describes how the drive by owners to reduce crews has put workers at risk as well as the public's safety and the environment. Burrows says RWU is advocating for a "no" vote because the White House deal left the heavy lifting on work rules and time off provisions to further negotiations with the individual carriers. 

Part II. Boots on the ground and eyes on the street: I interview independent journalist Aimee who runs the current event live streaming service NYCForYourself. She's been doing breakthrough reporting on the impact of mayor de Blasio's vaccine mandate on frontline civil servants. Her boots on the ground approach helped her score a major journalistic coup recently when she obtained the audio tape of a pivotal Municipal Labor Committee meeting where the city's umbrella union group discussed making changes to the regulations that cover retiree healthcare as part of a highly controversial plan to shift former employees to Medicare Advantage.

I also check in Work-Bites.com Editor-In-Chief Joe Maniscalco about the importance of independent labor journalism.

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