Pete Buttigieg, US transportation secretary, speaks during a news conference near the location of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, US, on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023.
Matthew Hatcher | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The presidents of U.S. railroad unions told Biden administration officials that rail staff have fallen unwell on the Norfolk Southern derailment site in East Palestine, Ohio, in a push for more train safety.
Leaders from 12 unions met with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Amit Bose, administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, in Washington, D.C., Wednesday to debate the derailment, aftermath and needed safety improvements.
“My hope is the stakeholders on this industry can work towards the identical goals related to safety when transporting hazardous materials by rail,” said Mike Baldwin, president of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen. “Today’s meeting is a possibility for labor to share what our members are seeing and coping with day after day. The railroaders labor represents are the workers who make it protected they usually will need to have the tools to accomplish that.”
Jeremy Ferguson, president of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Employees – Transportation Division, told CNBC that Buttigieg plans on more talks with the unions in the long run.
“This was an excellent start,” said Ferguson. “It is important these issues of safety are addressed. Nobody wants one other East Palestine. The protection discussion of employees have to be addressed. The running of those long trains was some extent of debate as well.”
The meeting comes on the heels of letters sent to each the DOT and the FRA Wednesday by which union representations claimed rail staff had gotten sick on the derailment site. CNBC obtained the letters, addressed to Buttigieg, Bose, East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, from the final chairman of the American Rail System Federation of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
In keeping with the letter, Norfolk Southern rail staff who’ve worked or proceed to work the cleanup site have reported experiencing “migraines and nausea.” One employee reportedly asked his supervisor to be transferred off the derailment site due to his symptoms, but never heard back from his supervisor and was left on the job site.
The letter also claims staff aren’t being provided appropriate personal protective equipment equivalent to respirators, eye protection or protective clothing. In keeping with union representatives, 35 to 40 staff were on the track and weren’t supplied with proper respiration apparatuses — only paper and N95 masks — or rubber gloves, boots or coverups.
A Norfolk Southern spokesperson told CNBC in an announcement that the train company was “on-scene immediately after the derailment and coordinated our response with hazardous material professionals who were on site repeatedly to make sure the work area was protected to enter and the required PPE was utilized, all as well as to air monitoring that was established inside an hour.”
Earlier Wednesday, a bunch of bipartisan senators introduced The Railway Safety Act of 2023, aimed toward stopping future train disasters just like the derailment that devastated the Ohio village.
Presidents of 12 U.S. railroad unions meet in Washington, D.C., on March 1, 2023 for a gathering with Biden officials.
CNBC
The laws includes quite a few safety protocols for the transportation of hazardous materials. It could also create requirements for wayside defect detectors, establish a everlasting requirement for railroads to operate with no less than two-person crews, in addition to increase fines for wrongdoing committed by rail carriers.
“If this laws is adopted, the [Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen] supports those efforts and appears forward to working collaboratively on common sense regulations that proceed to enhance safety,” Baldwin said.
Present on the meeting with Buttigieg and others were:
- Jeremy Ferguson, of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Employees – Transportation Division (SMART-TD)
- Tony Cardwell, of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees (BMWED)
- Edward Hall, of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET)
- Don Grissom, of the Brotherhood Railway Carmen (BRC)
- Michael Baldwin, of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS)
- Josh Hartford, of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Employees (IAM)
- Lonnie Stephenson, of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Employees (IBEW)
- Arthur Maratea, of the Transportation Communications Union (TCU)
- Vince Verna, of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Vice President (BLET)
- Dean Devita, of the National Conference of Firemen and Oilers (NCFO)
- Leo McCann, of the American Train Dispatchers Association (ATDA)
- John Feltz, of the Transport Employees Union (TWU)
- Al Russo, of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Employees (IBEW)
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the list of union representatives present at a gathering with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. An earlier version included a union leader who didn’t attend.
