Labor

September 06, 2023 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter

KJ Boyle

Newsletter 2024 ElectionEthics in GovernmentIndependent AgenciesJudiciaryLabor

Cracking Down on Judicial Corruption & Celebrating Pro-Labor Rulemaking

With Labor Day now behind us, Hot Labor Summer has come to a scorching end, but the labor movement is alive and well with several heavyweight bouts looming on the horizon. This transition time is the perfect moment to take stock of the Biden administration’s labor allyship — applauding recent rulemaking efforts, highlighting some shortcomings, and previewing some potential labor strikes coming this fall.

March 22, 2023 | The Sling

Dylan Gyauch-Lewis

Op-Ed Department of TransportationExecutive BranchIndependent AgenciesLabor

Too Big To Rail: Railroads, Safety, and Accountability

Unfortunately, America’s rail workers are all too familiar with the consequences of how the railroad industry has been operated over the past 30 years. Precision scheduled railroading (PSR) has made the difference. PSR is a business model focused on reducing overhead costs and generating returns for shareholders. Similar to many other business models driven by financialization, it’s effectively  a scheme by giant railroad operators to cut staff and backup resources, push the remaining equipment and personnel to the breaking point, and funnel as much of the cash as possible to Wall Street. And by increasing market concentration even further, the recently approved rail merger between Canadian Pacific (CP) and Kansas City Southern (KCS) promises to make the situation even more dire — for railroad workers, for the communities our rail lines pass through, and for the American economy.

November 30, 2022 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter

Hannah Story Brown

Newsletter

DefenseEthics in GovernmentFinancial RegulationLabor

Union Joe’s Disgrace

If rail workers are so important to our economy that a single week of striking could cost the economy $1 billion, and if their demands are so modest that any decent employer would easily exceed them, then meeting their demands seems like the obvious solution. But the American balance of power is such that railroad bosses have the allegedly most pro-labor president in history doing their dirty work for them.