CHICAGO–(ENEWSPF)–July 29, 2013. On Friday the 26th, Management at Mobile Rail Solutions fired Eric and Dwayne, two non-CDL service-helpers who are active participants in the ongoing Unionization effort. They further alluded to the possibility of firing all remaining non-CDL carrying employees. While management claims this is part of a restructuring, we believe that the firings constitute a broad attack on protected organizing activity and most likely a direct retaliation against protected OSHA complaints recently filed across several Mobile Rail locations.
From the very beginning, the workers at Mobile Rail have held safety as their most important demand. We have succeeded in pressuring management to provide some basic Personal Protection Equipment but remaining safety concerns are numerous. A chief complaint is the use of single-worker servicing teams that lack protection from heat-stroke, injuries from faulty equipment, or the threat of train accidents. We fear that the firings could be just the beginning of Mobile Rail destroying the two-worker teams and replacing them with the much riskier and more dangerous single-worker service. We demand that Mobile Rail rehire both Eric and Dwayne, stop all firings, and implement two-worker service teams across all locations.
In a further act of venom, it appears that Management has already posted job openings to replace these organizers. If Mobile Rail has no need for Eric and Wayne, why are they hiring new employees? If Mobile Rail intends to do away with non-CDL workers, then they need to provide full tuition for each existing worker to become licensed. If Mobile Rail thinks they can force everyone into unsafe single-worker teams, they are very, very wrong.
The IWW and the workers at Mobile Rail Solutions are asking for support from the community of labor. Workers have been organizing for months and hope to have their voices heard in an upcoming NLRB election on August 14th. The IWW is a rank and file Union open to all workers across all industries. The workers at Mobile Rail and the IWW are prepared to engage in direct action to see their Fellow Workers rehired and their voices heard.
