In the New Age of Robber Barons: The UP-NS Merger w/Ron Kaminkow

Last year, news broke that two of the largest Class One Rail Carriers, Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, announced their intention of a massive merger. The 85 billion dollar megadeal would create the nation’s first transcontinentall railroad owned by a single company, spanning 50,000 miles of track and nearly half of the nation’s rail freight traffic. As I reported on this last September, no one but the rail executives themselves are particularly happy about it. On April 30th, UP formally re-submitted its application to merge with Norfolk Southern. I brought longtime friend and union brother Ron Kaminkow back on the show to discuss updates with the merger, why it’s a bad idea for pretty much everyone, and what we can expect moving forward. Just after recording this episode with Ron, the news dropped that a coalition came out in opposition to the merger. I want to read a part of their statement at length: “A new coalition, launched [last week], unites a broad cross section of the U.S. economy in opposing the proposed merger of Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern rail lines. If allowed to move forward, the deal would create the largest consolidated railroad in U.S. history and give a single entity control over almost half of the nation’s rail traffic. The Stop the Rail Merger Coalition, which represents major railroad operators, customers, and workers, warns the merger would reduce competition, drive up costs for American manufacturers, farmers and consumers, and inject new vulnerabilities into the nation’s workforce and supply chain, at a moment when affordability and resilience matter most. The newly-formed group includes the American Chemistry Council, the American Farm Bureau Federation, Teamsters Rail Conference, BNSF Railway, CPKC Railway, Alliance for Chemical Distribution (ACD), National Industrial Transportation League (NITL), and Vinyl Institute. The Teamsters Rail Conference makes up the majority of the Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern’s unionized workforce. This new coalition joins a growing group of more than 100 state and federal policymakers, including attorneys general and agriculture secretaries, who are urging the administration to hit the brakes on this unnecessary merger.” ---- More Info: Check out RWU here. Stop the Rail Merger Coalition website. Check out Mel's previous reporting here.