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Opinion: Anti-union rant clouds SunRail facts
(The following column by Mike Williams appeared on the Orlando Sentinel website on November 8, 2009. Mr. Williams is president of the Florida AFL-CIO.)
ORLANDO, Fla. — On Nov. 1 in his My Word column, Mark P. Wylie quoted Orlando Sentinel reporter Dan Tracy's article saying that the reason the Florida AFL-CIO has raised concerns over the SunRail project is because "train managers might hire unqualified, nonunion workers."
Key memos in the public record detailing meetings between the Florida Department of Transportation and the CSX company indicate that Florida's unionized rail workforce would not only be excluded from participating in the project but that protections for an undetermined number of current rail workers would be eliminated, as would many of their jobs.
The federal government has long acknowledged the importance of union protections for rail workers because these protections allow workers to bring serious safety risks to the attention of management and safety authorities without fear of reprisals or terminations. This is a critical component of the overall rail-safety apparatus in the United States.
More importantly, however, is that both Tracy's article and Wylie's response mischaracterize our opposition by ignoring the many other critical issues that we and others have articulated.
Why does this deal include hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses for CSX to improve its own freight facilities, facilities that have nothing to do with the proposed commuter-rail line and its operation? These bonuses to the CSX company have needlessly inflated the cost of this deal.
Why does the CSX company insist on forcing all liability for accidents onto the backs of taxpayers — even if it is found to be at fault for gross negligence? Will local governments really be able to pick up the high price tag for operation when the state turns it over to them? We want commuter rail, but we also want schools that are adequately funded, critical services for our seniors and a state budget that is fair to the taxpayers.
Wylie also asserts that the Florida AFL-CIO's goal "appears to be the forced unionization of all of the workers on the new SunRail." He knows, as do most Floridians, that union membership is always voluntary in our state.
The Florida AFL-CIO has supported rail projects in Florida for decades and has the record to prove it. We want the people of Central Florida to have a rail line, but we want to make sure it is funded in a way that is responsible and affords its workers the same basic federal protections that rail workers have enjoyed for generations. Wylie's attempt to use this issue as a platform for another anti-union rant that creates false divisions between union and non-union workers is disingenuous at best and yet another attempt to cloud the facts on this important issue.
Monday, November 09, 2009
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