The toxic clouds that billowed up from a derailed freight train in Ohio earlier this month are a chilling metaphor for the toxic greed that has infected so many of our big corporations.
After having to evacuate, residents of the town near the derailment are cautiously going back home, but they still don’t know the full extent of the damage to the area’s environment and public health.
The Norfolk Southern train was carrying dangerous chemicals, including vinyl chloride, a highly flammable carcinogen that is more harmful than even ammonia and natural gas, according to federal regulations.
Following the derailment, locals have reported evidence of the sudden death of fish and wildlife, in addition to people having difficulty breathing, numb limbs, and rashes, among other possible physical symptoms from the chemical exposure.
Unions representing rail workers had warned of the possibility of just such a catastrophe.
In contract negotiations last year, they denounced a business model known as “precision scheduled railroading,” which aims to boost profits by running bigger and faster trains with smaller crews. The practice has even earned a nickname among rail workers: “positive shareholder reaction.” Combined with a lack of guaranteed sick pay, this created dangerous conditions for overworked rail employees.
Where have all the profits gone?
Over the last three years, CEOs at five of the largest railroad conglomerates raked in a staggering $200 million in compensation. Norfolk Southern and the six other largest U.S. freight railroad companies also spent $191 billion on stock buybacks and shareholder dividends between 2011 and 2021, making their wealthy executives and investors even richer.
And while railroad execs lined their own pockets, their lobbyists advocated against stricter safety rules. In 2017, after rail industry donors gave Republicans federal regulators killed provisions requiring rail cars carrying hazardous materials to have more sophisticated, faster braking systems.
This profit-driven approach is clearly putting workers and communities at high risk. In fact, the Ohio accident wasn’t even the only one this month. Days later in Houston, Texas, another train carrying hazardous materials derailed, killing the driver. Days after that incident, another Norfolk Southern train derailed, this time in southeastern Michigan.
Those working the railroad have a simple solution to this public threat: public ownership. Railroad Workers United, which brings together members from 12 rail unions, has called for an end to private corporate ownership of the U.S. rail system, as well as the integrated systems in Mexico and Canada.
The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) has also called for public ownership, writing: “The railroad companies cannot even be said to be in the business of moving freight; they are merely in the business of using their monopoly control over the nation’s rail infrastructure to squeeze as much profit as possible from customers and workers at the behest of their Wall Street shareholders.”
The Ohio tragedy is a huge, fiery alarm bell. We should no longer tolerate the risk of having greedy corporate executives run us off the rails. Through public ownership, this vital infrastructure could truly serve the public good.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.