The Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council (CLC), a labor union representing thousands of Cincinnati-area workers, has come out in support of the sale of the Cincinnati Southern Railway (CSR) to Norfolk Southern.
In a statement released Sept. 7, CLC said the decision was a long time in the making.
“After a great deal of internal discussion and debate, as well as numerous meetings between The City of Cincinnati and labor leadership, Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council is supporting the sale of the CSR,” the release reads.
The deal in a nutshell
This November, Cincinnati voters will decide whether or not to sell the CSR to Norfolk Southern in exchange for a $1.6 billion trust fund to shore up basic services for the city. The principal balance wouldn't be touched, meaning the city estimates it would have an annual stream of cash ranging from $50 million to $70 million, which could only be spent on maintaining existing city facilities like roads, rec centers and fire stations.
Why the CLC wants to sell the CSR
The CLC represents more than 40,000 workers spanning dozens of trades, including boilermakers, bricklayers, firefighters, teachers, musicians, air traffic controllers and more. CLC leaders said their position is based on the need to maintain the city’s infrastructure and basic services.
“As to why the CLC has taken this position,” the release reads, “the city has a ponderous backlog of necessary maintenance to its infrastructure that will cost an estimated $400 million to complete. The weighty backlog includes bringing recreation centers up to safety codes, repairing crumbling streets, updating fire stations, and fixing failing ventilation systems at community health centers – all projects that directly impact everyday lives and the quality of those lives.”
"Derail the Sale" campaign
The endorsement came as a shock to Abby Friend of the "Derail the Sale" campaign.
“At Derail the Sale, we are disappointed and surprised to learn of the close vote by the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council,” Friend told CityBeat. “But we are undeterred in our mission to stop the sale of the Cincinnati Southern Railway to Norfolk Southern. We have union workers on our side, including Railroad Workers United and many working Cincinnatians are with us as well.”
The Derail the Sale campaign is an organized group of citizens campaigning for “No” votes on Nov. 7, when Cincinnati voters will be asked to approve the CSR sale. Derail the Sale insists it’s a better financial decision for the city to retain ownership of its railway.
“We know that this sale is a bad financial deal for Cincinnati and that we have the power to negotiate a better lease,” Friend told CityBeat. “If we retain ownership of this essential public asset, then we as citizens maintain oversight and transparency. The [CSR] has generated revenue for Cincinnati for generations upon generations. A carpenter wouldn't sell her tools.”
Finances aren’t the only point of contention in this sale. The push and pull between those who support and oppose the deal is largely rooted in concerns over the purchaser, Norfolk Southern.
The East Palestine in the room
A Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, a small Eastern Ohio village near the Pennsylvania border, on Feb. 3. The derailment ignited a chain of events that ended in a controlled burn of the train’s toxic load of chemicals, including butyl acrylate, vinyl chloride, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether and ethylhexyl acrylate. The chemicals are used in industrial processes including the production of lacquers, enamels, inks, adhesives, paint thinners and industrial cleaners, and plastic manufacturing. The colorless vinyl chloride has been associated with an increased risk of liver cancer and other cancers, according to the federal government’s National Cancer Institute.
A plume of thick black smoke from the burning chemicals soared above homes and waterways in East Palestine, painting a dark picture for the weeks to come. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) quickly took over managing the cleanup from Norfolk Southern, promising to hold the multi-billion-dollar rail giant accountable for the disaster, but surveys have suggested most Americans don’t believe the government has handled the fallout in East Palestine to this day.
“It was terrifying and shocking to see," said Friend in a previous interview with CityBeat. “It was just really eye opening and terrifying and shocking and heartbreaking to see the residents of East Palestine being impacted and not having answers.”
CLC addresses the concerns over safety and disaster liability in their statement endorsing the deal.
“This sale frees the city from any responsibility and/or legal liability for owning and maintaining a railroad, which could entail costly repairs and upgrades in the future,” the release reads. “Additionally, despite the lease agreement claiming to release the city from any damages or liability resulting from unforeseen occurrences or incidents such as that which occurred in East Palestine Ohio, it is the position of the council that this does not preclude frivolous lawsuits that would inevitably come and create an undue and substantial financial burden on the city that would still have to defend itself.”
Mayor Aftab Pureval echoed this idea to CityBeat during a June interview about selling the CSR, saying it’s legally dangerous for the city to go on owning the railroad.
“By selling the railroad we will get a $1.6 billion trust fund to shore up our basic services for generations and we also get the benefit of getting out of a rail industry that is under-regulated, under-managed and risky,” Pureval told CityBeat. “Certainly the environmental catastrophe that we’re seeing in East Palestine, no one here wants that and if we continue to hold on to this asset, we could be on the hook for liability if something like that happened here.”
Friend told CityBeat in a previous interview that the city isn't trying hard enough to find other ways to pay for basic services while keeping the country’s only city-owned multi-state railway.
"They're looking at our [railroad] as something we can just toss out the door instead of sitting down and finding creative solutions to some of our problems," she said.
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