Contact Your Representatives and Ask them to Support Railroad Worker Paid Sick Leave Published: Oct 18 2022 11:53AM
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FIND YOUR SENATORFIND YOUR REPRESENTATIVE
EMAIL SCRIPT
MONTH DATE, 2022
Senator/Congress Person
Address
City State Zip
Re: Please Support the Railroad Workers Ask for Paid Sick Time Off
Dear [Senator/Member of Congress]:
My name is INSERT and I live in [Senator’s State] or [Representative’s district] at INSERT ADDRESS. I am a railroad Track/Bridge Maintenance Worker for the INSERT Railroad and I am a proud union Member of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED). I am one of the nearly 23,000 men and women who build, maintain and inspect the major Class I freight railroads’ infrastructure that is critical to the United States’ supply chain.
As you are likely aware, we are amid a contract dispute with the railroads. Of particular importance is the lack of paid sick time off for rail employees.
On October 10, 2022, BMWED Members rejected a tentative national agreement because it lacks paid time off for railroad workers dealing with sickness. We were able to secure one additional paid personal day in the tentative national agreement; this is the first increase in paid time off that we have secured since 1981.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, we were considered “exempt” workers and told to report to work as usual to avoid a catastrophic supply chain emergency. We all did this to support our country and provide our valuable services despite the risk of infection. Many of us did contract Covid and several died.
We are asking for your support in our contract struggle. We were told during the pandemic that we were classified as “federal contractors” for purposes of the vaccine mandate. In turn, we are asking for the 56 hours of paid sick time off as prescribed currently to federal contractors.
We went to bat for the country when we were called upon to do so. We are seeking your support today.
Thank you.
PHONE SCRIPT
My name is INSERT and I live in [Senator’s State] or [Representative’s district] at INSERT ADDRESS. I am a railroad TRACK/BRIDGE Maintenance Worker for the INSERT RAILROAD and a proud Union Member of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED).
As you likely know, my Union is amid a contract dispute with the Class I freight railroads. Among many concerns, one that has stood out is the lack of paid sick time off. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we were considered “exempt” workers and told to report to work as usual to avoid a catastrophic supply chain emergency. We all did this to support our country and provide our valuable services despite the risk of infection. Many of us did contract Covid and several died.
We are asking for your support in our contract struggle. We were told during the pandemic that we were classified as “federal contractors” for purposes of the vaccine mandate. In turn, we are asking for the 56 hours of paid sick time off as prescribed currently to federal contractors.
We went to bat for the country when we were called upon to do so. We are seeking your support today.