A labor union seeking to represent onboard attendants for Brightline in Florida is urging the U.S. Department of Transportation to deny the for-profit passenger train company federal funds over Brightline’s alleged anti-union tactics.
The president of the Transport Workers Union, representing 155,000 U.S. workers in the rail, transportation and airline industries, wrote a letter to Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Sept. 19 accusing Brightline of “abusing the public coffers and denying workers their fundamental labor rights.” Union president John Samuelsen, in his letter, also urged the DOT to investigate whether funds previously awarded to Brightline “should be clawed back due to the railroad’s non-compliance with federal law.”
“Faced with workers' desires to unionize, Brightline and its president, Patrick Goddard, have deliberately chosen the path of confrontation and acrimony,” Samuelsen declared.
“Although Brightline bosses are anti-worker, President Joe Biden is not,” Samuelsen continued. “The U.S. DOT now must give funding priority to companies that don’t interfere with workers seeking to unionize.”
A majority of the roughly 100 attendants for Brightline Florida who serve food and drinks to passengers onboard the company's high-speed rail line filed a petition last month with the National Mediation Board, seeking to unionize with the TWU. Filing such a petition requires signed cards of support from at least 30 percent of employees, although the union says more than 50 percent have filed cards. Since then, Brighltine has retained legal counsel through the notoriously anti-union law firm Littler Mendselson, who have allegedly sought to delay workers’ vote on forming a union and are “actively pressuring” workers against unionization according to union representatives. Such behavior, the union argues, stands in clear conflict with pro-labor stances taken by the Biden administration.
An executive order from President Joe Biden, released Sept. 4, called on federal departments, including the DOT, to specifically prioritize awarding federal funds to companies that demonstrate high labor standards such as paying competitive wages, ensuring worker safety, and demonstrating pro-union policies such as “voluntary union recognition and neutrality by the employer with respect to union organizing.”
Brightline Florida has already received or benefited from $36 million in grants through the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements program, according to the union, while the affiliated Brightline West — a high-speed rail project that will run from Las Vegas to Southern California — has received at least $3.5 billion in federal funds. Local governments in Florida, including Brevard County, have also dedicated public funds for Brightline projects.
In Florida, Brightline runs a high-speed passenger train from Miami up through Aventura, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach and Orlando, where its higher-fare service has been especially popular. The rail system is expected to further expand to Tampa, the Treasure Coast (if local government officials can reach a deal with Brightline) and Cocoa.
Onboard attendants for Brightline Florida are the first to seek unionization, but union president Samuelsen previously told Orlando Weekly that other Brightline employees have also reached out to the union to discuss joining. The Transport Workers Union also represents employees of other rail companies, including Amtrak, whose onboard attendants recently won a union contract delivering a 34 percent compounded wage increase over seven years, plus paid parental leave and stable healthcare costs.
President Biden has declared himself the “most pro-union president” ever, and secured endorsements from many major labor unions — including the TWU — before he dropped his bid for re-election earlier this year. The union has since endorsed Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, along with other major unions that include Unite Here, the Service Employees International Union and the United Auto Workers, among others.
The union’s letter to the DOT calls for further investigation into funds Brightline has received so far. It states that while Brightline has benefited from federal funds allocated specifically for rail projects, the company is now claiming it is not a rail carrier under the Railway Labor Act (RLA) and therefore does not fall under the jurisdiction of the National Mediation Board, which governs labor relations specifically in the rail and airline industries.
Brightline’s lawyers have used this argument to dismiss the workers’ petition to unionize with the NMD, arguing such a petition should instead be filed with the National Labor Relations Board, which oversees the rest of the private sector. The union has decried this argument as a targeted delay tactic.
“If the company sincerely believes these arguments, it should be obligated to repay the more than $36 million it has inappropriately received or benefited from out of monies reserved for use by or for RLA-covered carriers,” the letter reads.
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