OPINION:
Over the years, union bosses have made clear that they are willing to throw consumers and taxpayers under the bus for personal gain.
In the public sector, taxpayers foot the bill for more than $180 million in collective bargaining costs associated with federal government unions each year. In the private sector, union bosses shut down the nation’s ports in 2024, holding the entire economy hostage as a negotiating tactic.
International Longshoremen’s Association President Harold Daggett threatened to “cripple” the U.S. economy if he did not get his way.
Today, union bosses have found their new target: America’s railroads.
After a freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, in 2023, unions seized on the disaster to push for new regulations that would increase their union membership numbers under the guise of safety. This power grab was marketed as the Railway Safety Act.
Technological advancements have made rail transport safer and more efficient. The so-called Railway Safety Act would drag the industry back to the past.
One of the bill’s bad provisions would mandate a government-set minimum crew size, requiring Class I railroads to add a second crew member to freight trains that already operate safely with one.
Not more safety; more union dues.
The bill also would add requirements for manual inspections, despite overwhelming evidence that automated track inspection technologies make transportation safer. Again, more dues money, less safety.
Other provisions, such as mandating a more than a 100% increase in the number of wheel-bearing sensors, would add billions of dollars to the cost of freight transportation and to the cost of everything you buy that arrives by train.
As the Railway Safety Act increases labor and new equipment costs, consumers will bear the brunt. Rail transportation touches every corner of the economy, and these billions of dollars in new costs will be passed on to consumers in higher prices.
You pay. The union bosses get more money.
Despite these steep cost increases for the average American, the Railway Safety Act would not improve the safety issue that inspired it in the first place. The National Transportation Safety Board conducted a full investigation of the East Palestine derailment and found “insufficient evidence” that an inadequate inspection performed on the train before its departure was the source of the problem.
The NTSB did not recommend changing manual inspection requirements, nor did it indicate that additional manual inspections would have prevented the incident. It also found no evidence that a mandated increase in wheel-bearing sensors would have prevented the accident.
Although the Railway Safety Act would require a minimum of two crew members, three were aboard the train in East Palestine. The Federal Rail Administration has repeatedly found no “reliable or conclusive statistical data” showing that “multiple-person crew operations” are any safer than one-person crew operations.
A two-member crew mandate would have had no impact on the East Palestine accident, but it would have increased the size of the unionized labor force. As a result, union bosses would receive more dues payments taken from workers’ paychecks and their power would grow.
Instead of improving safety, the unions are supporting their own bottom lines.
The unions succeeded in getting the Biden administration to craft a rule mandating a minimum two-member crew, but they failed to secure enough support to pass the Railway Safety Act in the previous Congress.
Now, however, union bosses have renewed their push to include the legislation’s provisions in the Surface Transportation Reauthorization package, a must-pass legislation that funds rail and highway programs.
Knowing that Democrats alone are not enough to make the bill into law, union bosses have tried to trick some Republicans into supporting the Railway Safety Act. The Republicans shouldn’t fall for it.
While most major labor unions give more than 90% of their political donations to Democrats, 100% of political donations from the largest rail unions go to Democrats, according to analysis from the Center for Union Facts.
The Railway Safety Act fails in its purported goal of increasing safety. Consumers and small businesses would face steeper costs across the supply chain.
As for any Republicans who are fooled into supporting the bill, they would only be throwing money at the very union bosses who work to defeat them in elections.
As Congress considers the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization, it should stay far away from the Railway Safety Act scheme.
• Grover Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform.
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