Brightline train attendants have voted to unionize after months of delay caused by the private passenger train company filing federal challenges to the election.
The Transport Workers Union will represent train employees who sell food and beverages and provide other services onboard to passengers. A majority of them voted to join, the union said. But only half of those who could vote did, Brightline noted. Brightline acts indifferent to workers traumatized by its regular train crashes, the union has said, and has enacted an overly strict attendance policy.
“This is an enormous victory. Brightline workers — in the face of an aggressive anti-union campaign — voted roughly two-to-one to join the TWU,” union president John Samuelsen said. “The Brightline president even went so far as to call workers at home in an apparent intimidation tactic. It obviously failed, epically.”
Brightline did not respond to a question about whether company president Samuel Goddard made those calls.
More: Union wants federal investigation into Brightline, claims company opposes unionization
“The union election is finally over,” Goddard wrote Tuesday in an email to employees. “Unfortunately, the election didn’t see the turnout we had hoped as only about half of the onboard population voted and about one third of the team (all voting-eligible employees) voted for union representation.”
The union expects Brightline to slow-walk labor negotiations, Samuelsen said. Brightline does not plan to jump straight into bargaining, Goddard said Jan. 14. “There are several steps between today’s results and future negotiations, and we want you to know that it may take a little while to play out,” Goddard said.
A Brightline trains heads to Orlando from the West Palm Beach station in West Palm Beach, Florida on September 22, 2023.
Brightline train attendants announced their union drive in August. Along with seeking a raise from the $20 to $22 hourly wage, the union has said, attendants are upset with what they say is the company’s indifference to onboard workers traumatized by the near-weekly crashes that kill drivers and pedestrians on the tracks between Orlando and Miami, the union has said.
And a new “draconian” attendance policy that penalizes employees for calling off shifts with less than six hours’ notice unless providing documentation such as notes from doctors or schools explaining it, the union says.
Brightline filed a challenge to the union drive in September with the federal National Mediation Board, which oversees railway labor matters, saying that employees should not have filed their signed union authorization cards with that board, but with the federal National Labor Relations Board, which oversees most other industries.
In response, the union asked the U.S. Department of Transportation to investigate the rail company for claiming in its filing that it is not a railway, yet accepts taxpayer subsidies from the government meant for trains.
The mediation board ruled for the union in November. Brightline filed a federal lawsuit Dec. 4 against the board, seeking to toss its decision. The case is ongoing. Meanwhile, the election moved forward, with employees voting by mail from Nov. 27 through last week.
“This is their most foolish move,” Samuelsen said. “We have relations in D.C. the employer does not.”
Chris Persaud is The Palm Beach Post’s transportation reporter. Send news tips and ideas to cpersaud@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Brightline workers unionize over trauma from deadly crashes, attendance
