What did the railroad workers want?

The rail workers wanted seven annual paid sick days, which would cost the railroads an estimated $321 million annually–less than 2% of their annual profit. But the railroads balked at this demand, despite posting record profits of $21.2 billion in the first three quarters of 2022 alone.



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Labor activism and the railways are inextricably linked in US history. In 1877, railroad workers were fighting for labor justice too. Years of pay cuts, weak labor protections, and ruthless exploitation by their employers led them to walk off their jobs in a series of strikes across the country.

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The multiple unions representing rail workers have been negotiating with railroads over the issue and have been winning. In June, it was reported that more than 60% of U.S. unionized railroad workers are now are covered by new sick leave agreements. That number continues to grow.

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Last fall, many union railroad workers in the United States did not have paid sick days. Now, more than sixty percent of them do, Reuters reports. It has been a process of slow, piecemeal wins over many months—and a testament to the continued push of high-profile politicians like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont).

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Due to the railroad's construction, there was a very high demand for enslaved laborers during the mid-19th century in Western North Carolina. Enslaved people were assigned many tasks such as digging track beds, laying tracks, working as cleaners, brakemen, maintenance workers, and cooks.

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Railroad workers put in long hours; a 1907 law restricted train crews to 16 hours work out of every 24. Well into the twentieth century, work was unsteady and unsafe. One railroad worker in every 357 nationally died on the job in 1889.

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Locomotive engineers. Rail yard engineers, dinkey operators, and hostlers. Railroad brake, signal, and switch operators and locomotive firers. Railroad conductors and yardmasters.

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The strikes were largely a result of tumultuous postwar economic adjustments; with 10 million soldiers returning home, and the transfer of people from wartime sectors to traditional sectors, inflation was 8% in 1945, 14% in 1946, and 8% in 1947.

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