Railroads even healthier than article suggests
I am second to none in admiration for the growth that U.S. railroads have shown in the past several years, so I was pleased to see your feature on Nov. 28 titled, "Guess Who's Hiring? Railroads."
However, your figures are way off track. You state, "Overall, employment in the industry is up from 36,500 in 2003 to more than 40,000." (This is clarified somewhat later on in the article as being the data for the BNSF railroad.)
The Association of American Railroads states that the total employment for U.S. railroads in 2005 was actually 162,438, up 7,739 from 2004. If you are going to praise this vital sector of U.S. transportation, then please do so factually.
Clarence Phillips
Greensboro
Comments (5)
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can't even print the good news without someone complaining.
Posted on December 7, 2006 6:54 AM
Here are stats provided by the US Department of Labor. (112,000 workers in 2005) One thing to note is that these stats only show full-time and part-time employment. The others involved in the rail systems are temp workers or illegal immigrants. Over the past years, the industry has moved towards contract workers and illegals, due to companies not wanting to pay for employee health care and benefits.
The part for low-wage, high productivity goes right along with the GOP agenda, and is why many republicans in business only talked about stopping illegal immigration, instead of making sure it was stopped (hence a 1/3 fence on the border)
http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos244.htm
Posted on December 7, 2006 8:02 AM
6string, gotta agree again. what a nitpicker this clarence williams is.
guilford native,
Immigrants working on the railroad? You gotta be kidding.
Posted on December 7, 2006 8:55 AM
There are numberous jobs that are not specialized, where illegal immigrants are working. Usually companies give contracts to 3rd party organizations to provide clean-up crews and repair crews.
One major concern is at our ports in the US. There are over 400,000 workers at US ports, and only recently, were workers asked to provide worker ID cards to access security areas (the cards are refered to as 'TWIC' cards)
Illegals show up in the most unlikely places: here is a link to dozens who were caught working at Fort Bragg http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,79160,00.html?ESRC=airforce.nl
Posted on December 7, 2006 1:32 PM
"you gotta be kidding"
That was me pointing out the irony of immigrants working on the railroad present day considering the history of immigrants building many of our railroads many years ago.
Posted on December 8, 2006 5:10 PM