FROM THE EDITOR, RAILWAY AGE MAY 2025 ISSUE: Frank N. Wilner, in his May “Watching Washington” column, talks about “bridges of understanding” that could “be built between discordant rail labor and rail management, if only they would cease lecturing each other and engage. … As railroads function much as military units with mutual dependence on each other’s skills, it is astonishing that they prosper, given so many senior officers are aloof from workplace conditions, mid-level managers aggressively gumshoe workers for rules violations, and union websites aggressively disparage railroads and rail officials.”
There are encouraging examples of beneficial bridges being built. Norfolk Southern and CSX come to mind. But the idea of management and labor forging a more peaceful, friendly and productive relationship is nothing new, as Frank points out in this entertaining anecdote:
“I first floated this idea during the 1980s at the Association of American Railroads, but it went nowhere, as ‘Quality Circles’ was in vogue, and the college professor approach by Burlington Northern barely survived a few months.
“Gus Welty (Railway Age’s late Senior Editor) found it interesting, but thought labor would never go for it. Gus and I had dinner with a labor professor one night in Chicago and discussed it. I can’t remember the restaurant, as I usually do. I know it was not Jimmy Wong’s, which I loved and that Gus detested. It was not Miller’s Pub, where Gus maintained his ‘afternoon office’ at the end of the bar adjacent to the pub’s telephone. The professor was Ben Fisher. Ben and I got into such a very loud and very heated discussion (we were and remained good friends) that the manager asked us to tone it down or finish our meal and leave.”
Frank told me that, prior to writing his column, he “asked a few young and upcoming rail labor ‘lower level’ officers about this idea. They see its value, but doubt carriers will go for it. So, we shall see if there is an echo.”
The late Pope Francis, a humble, unassuming Jesuit, in 2017 appealed for “bridges of understanding” and “not walls” during the current President’s first term. Just before we went to press, Frank came upon this quote from the president of Benedictine University in Illinois that echoed the Pope’s 2017 message to the “deaf and uncaring” POTUS 45—who as POTUS 47 is far more extreme and chaotic than during his first term. He shared it with me. It’s worth passing on:
“Pope Francis was a beacon of hope, a voice for the marginalized, and a tireless advocate for peace, justice, and care of God’s creation. His papacy … [dared] us to embrace mercy, to walk with the poor, and to build bridges of understanding in a divided world. No previous Pope defended so forcefully the rights of migrants and refugees. Pope Francis’s … words and actions continue to inspire countless individuals to serve others with generosity and joy. The title he gave his autobiography says much about the man: Hope.”
In these trying times when very little makes sense and where compassion, understanding and “generosity and joy” are in short supply, hope is all we have.
