As part of a nationwide rally to support freight rail workers, a solidarity rally for rail labor was held on Tuesday, December 13 on the corner of Victorian Way and Pyramid Way.

The SMART (Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, Transportation) Transportation Division and other organized labor groups plan to rally in support of freight rail workers after the U.S. government imposed a contract on members of SMART-TD and three other unions earlier this month.

Members from all corners of organized labor, other rail labor organizations, and the public are invited to participate in this informational picket.

"We refuse to take what occurred on Dec.1 and 2 with silence and complacency after the railroads refused to negotiate on good faith and held the country's economy hostage in the name of greed and profits," SMART-TD State Legislative Director Jason Doering said. "Enough is enough. Precession scheduled Railroading has ravaged our nation's supply chain for five years, exhausted our workers, and left an essential sector of our U.S. transportation industry in shambles. The treatment of U.S. rail workers by these rail executives, millionaires, and billionaires, as disposable cogs rather than human collaborators, must end." 

A rally on Capitol Hill was also held. 

Officials say these events are not job actions or a strike, rather they serve to act as informational pickets to raise awareness of the conditions created by the Class I railroad carriers.

The events also coincide with a Surface Transportation Board hearing in Washington D.C. and the Federal Railroad Administration's public hearing on freight train crew size on Dec. 14.

For more information, you can visit Home - SMART Union (smart-union.org)