Shuttlewagon Workers Face Intimidation and Retaliation After Union Election Victory

Manufacturing Worker Correspondent

We are the workers of Shuttlewagon, a Wabtec-owned company in Kansas City. We build railcar movers for the railroad industry in the nation’s second-largest rail hub.

For years, this company ran on favoritism and fear. Our handbooks are full of gray areas. Our acceptance letters list our jobs, then add “manager/supervisor discretion”—words that allow them to decide raises, attendance points, promotions, time off, and job assignments at their “discretion”. Raises depended on who you knew, not how hard you worked. Promotions worked the same way, while we were expected to do ten jobs for one price.

Raises were supposed to come in February. Sometimes they didn’t arrive until April because selling wagons mattered more. Evaluations could be done by someone who had worked with us only a month or two. Company banners show parts sold. Meetings announce profit. But bonuses go to people already making $100,000 to $200,000. We were told Wabtec didn’t believe in bonuses—yet we get an attendance bonus and management gets up to $50,000.

We’ve had three handbooks in three years. New rules were retroactively enforced on some workers, especially attendance, without our knowledge. The middle handbook eliminated points; the latest brought them back. We don’t even know how many points we have because no one but management knows how many points you have and supervisors have “discretion” whether to give them or not. This has gotten to become so ridiculous that on Labor Day, the company sent everyone home early so that we could celebrate the holiday with our families—then gave us all attendance points.

So we had enough. We contacted the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) to help us form a union at Shuttlewagon. In the course of the campaign we managed to get close to 80% of the workers to sign union cards and asked the company for voluntary recognition. They ignored us. Instead, they flew in lawyers, paid for their food, hotels, and airfare, and bought and gave out anti-union shirts.

They made promises if people voted no that things would change, even promising management positions for some people who have now since been fired! For weeks, they harassed and intimidated us. They let no-vote employees bully yes-vote employees.

On election day, we won 25 to 14. After the vote, the company picnic was canceled without explanation. No-vote employees verbally attacked yes-vote employees and were allowed to go home without attendance points. Several yes-vote workers were added to an after-hours group chat on personal phones and endured hate messages for three hours. The company said it could do nothing because the messages were after hours and on personal phones.

The day before the vote, the company passed out a flyer promising zero tolerance for harassment, bullying, or retaliation. What they meant was zero tolerance for that behavior by union supporters.

Since our victory, the company has strictly enforced attendance. They have said they will not bargain in good faith, will deny giving us our yearly raise, and bar additional certification or training that isn’t job-specific. They are targeting our organizers. In one case, a meeting between Ricky Glasgow, a lead, and a supervisor became heated. The company sent Ricky home after he told this supervisor, “This is why we are going union”. Ricky spent three days without pay pending an “investigation”. When he returned, he was demoted, forced to sign a 12-month no-discipline contract, given a $1 pay cut, and accused of insubordination. He had no prior disciplinary issues. He has since been terminated because he took off work for the stress the company caused him. At no point was Ricky given a warning on his attendance policy, nor did he have access to how many points he accrued—none of us do! We all know the real reason he was fired.

Ricky was fired for standing up for others as one of Shuttlewagon’s most active organizers. The company selectively enforces its own rules. Whether you get a pass seems to depend on which side you voted. This is union busting. This is retaliation. And we will not be silent.

To every worker who has ever been told to shut up and be grateful: stand with us. Call Shuttlewagon at 816-767-0300. Demand it stop retaliating against union supporters. Demand Ricky Glasgow be reinstated with full pay, including lost wages. Demand we be allowed to see our attendance points, demand that Shuttlewagon give us our scheduled raises, and that they sit at the negotiating table. Demand Shuttlewagon stop selectively enforcing its own rules!

We are united. We will not back down.

We are looking for worker correspondents: cashiers, drivers, nurses, construction workers, cleaners, warehouse staff—anyone who wants to report on what’s really happening at work. Share a story, a tip, a victory, or a fightback. We’ll help you turn it into an article. Contact us at theworkerpaper@proton.me.

Image: Union rally outside Shuttlewagon Factory. Image Credit: IUPAT Instagram page @goiupat.

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