WASHINGTON – The Transport Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO, has asked Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to deny Brightline Florida any additional federal funding, arguing that the company has sought to block its employees from joining a union.
The TWU, in a Sept. 19 letter to Buttigieg, noted that nearly 100 Brightline onboard service personnel are seeking union representation. TWU says that it was able to show the National Mediation Board in August that more than half of Brightline Florida’s onboard service workers wanted to unionize.
“Since that time, Brightline Florida has repeatedly and aggressively blocked these workers from exercising their right to freely be represented by the union of their choice,” TWU President John Samuelsen wrote.
The union contends that Brightline Florida has run afoul of an executive order that President Joe Biden signed earlier this month directing the Department of Transportation to prioritize funding projects that promote positive labor-management relationships, including voluntary union recognition and employer neutrality regarding union organizing.
Brightline Florida has received $36 million in Federal Railroad Administration CRISI grants and has requested additional funding through several FRA grant programs. Among them: Programs designed to improve grade crossing safety and eliminate grade crossings.
“Unless and until Brightline Florida ends their anti-union efforts, the TWU strongly opposes all of these applications,” Samuelsen wrote.
The union also asked DOT to investigate whether Brightline should be required to return funding obtained through prior federal grants.
“Faced with workers’ desires to unionize, Brightline and its president, Patrick Goddard, have deliberately chosen the path of confrontation and acrimony,” Samuelsen said in a statement today. “This will not end well for the bosses. Although Brightline bosses are anti-worker, President Joe Biden is not. The U.S. DOT now must give funding priority to companies that don’t interfere with workers seeking to unionize. Brightline absolutely doesn’t fit that description. They should be at the bottom of any list. This forthcoming debacle, created by Goddard, is totally avoidable but only if he stops his anti-worker, anti-union campaign.”
The union also claims that Brightline is arguing, before other federal agencies, that it is not a railroad under the Railway Labor Act.
Rail labor unions have harshly criticized railroads’ safety records in recent years. Why would the TWU oppose federal funding for grade crossing safety projects on Brightline?
“Rather than putting the company’s future and safety projects in jeopardy, we are in fact protecting them and providing job security for our members. By forcing Brightline to admit its true status under law as a rail carrier, we are solidifying its eligibility for federal grants,” a union spokesman says.
Brightline says it aims to provide a good workplace for all of its employees.
“Brightline recently signed a historic agreement with organized labor to build and operate Brightline West (including the TWU) and have always recognized our teammates right to explore representation. That said, there are longstanding jurisdictional channels that regulate and oversee this process and it’s in everyone’s interest – especially our employees – to get those right,” says Ben Porritt, Brightline’s senior vice president of corporate affairs. “While that decision plays out, we’ll continue to focus on our goal to provide the best workplace experience for all teammates, allowing for career and individual growth.”
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