520 Railroad Workers
All workers engaged in long distance railway freight and passenger transport and telecommunication. All workers in railway repair shops. All workers in and around passenger stations and freight terminals.
The IWW has a long history of organising among rail workers. Indeed, IWW members built and ran much of the railway network in the USA until the 1940s. In doing so, they fought for and won better conditions and greater workers' power on the job. We welcome all workers within the industry, including drivers, engineers, ticket inspectors, cleaners, signallers, admin workers, and many more.
The rail indsutry in the UK and Ireland has taken a pounding for the last few decades, with cuts, privatisation and 'modernisation' leaving thousands of rail workers jobless, and many more on low wages and working in unsafe conditions. However, we know rail workers are strong when they stand together, and recent victories have shown how solidarity and rank-and-file action can win a better deal from profiteering bosses.
With the IWW you can organise at work and build a powerful voice on the job with your workmates. We are run by the members, so we can never sell you out or cut a deal behind your backs. We believe in self-organisation, and a better and fairer working life for us and our families. However, we go one step further. The IWW looks to a future where we no longer have to beg for scraps under the bosses' table, where workers are in control and running the industry safely and efficiently like we know we can.
We workers have all the skills and experience, and deserve respect and dignity from bosses and each other. That's why we don't pretend to be 'partners' with management and refuse to divide our members by trade or educational level. And on the railways this is especially important, with management playing a divide-and-rule game to make us fight between the many different jobs involved. The IWW says enough is enough. Too long has the alphabet soup of rail unions, and transport unions more generally, carved up the industry. Unity in diversity is the key to success.
The IWW is happy to help you organise at all workplaces, no matter how large or small. Get in touch and sign up today, for a better tomorrow.
