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Season 3, Episode 210

Strict attendance policy remains a sticking point for railway workers

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Tom Buffenbarger

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Tom Buffenbarger, an independent labor voice, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed how the oppressive attendance policies of the railroads may prevent all 12 railroad unions from ratifying a proposed Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), which could result in a nationwide railway strike. 

So far, six unions have ratified the CBA, while members of two other unions voted the agreement down. However, one of the two unions reached a new tentative deal and their members will soon vote on it. Buffenbarger believes the oppressive attendance policy of the railroads is the heart of the problem. Currently, railroad employees are not allowed to take sick days off without a penalty. This makes it impossible for them to take care of their health or their family's well-being, he added.

Buffenbarger, the former President of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), also talked about a successful four-day strike at Amphenol Aerospace in Sidney, N.Y. by approximately 700 members of IAM Local 1529 (District 15). On Oct. 19, union members ratified a new CBA that increased wages, eliminated a two-tier wage system and improved paid leave.

Listen to the entire episode to learn more about these topics.


America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

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