When we hear the term "whistleblower," we tend to think of names like Daniel Ellsberg, Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, Julian Assange—people who have risked their freedom, even their lives, to expose government lies, abuses of power, and state secrets that the public needs to know about. But there are a range of federal statutes designed to protect those who blow the whistle on their employers, too, especially when those employers are breaking the law and/or endangering their workers and the public.
Michael Paul Lindsey II is a military veteran who has worked for Union Pacific as a trained locomotive conductor and engineer for the past 17 years, and he has maintained good standing as an employee throughout that time. Over the course of his career on the rails, however, Paul has seen and experienced firsthand how corporate greed has destroyed the railroad industry, damaged our supply chain, run workers into the ground, and put the public in danger. Even though he knew it could put his career at risk, Paul has been outspoken on these issues, using his popular TikTok channel, writing op-eds, and giving interviews in which he has exposed, with a veteran railroader's insight, the destructive business and labor practices of Union Pacific and the other Class 1 rail carriers, and how those practices have contributed to catastrophes like the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Then the company came for him. In suspected retaliation for his whistleblowing, Paul has officially been fired from Union Pacific. In this urgent and exclusive interview, we talk with Paul about his career on the rails, the changes he's seen take hold of the industry he loves, and the dubious circumstances that led to his firing.
Additional links/info below...
- Paul's TikTok channel
- Paul's TikTok video about East Palestine derailment
- OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program
- Michael Paul Lindsey II, Railway Age, "The Game Has Changed"
- Michael Paul Lindsey II, Railway Age, "‘Dear National Carriers Conference Committee and AAR’"
- Maximillian Alvarez, Breaking Points, "Railway Companies Engage In 'CORPORATE TERRORISM' Ahead of Strike"
- Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, ""This Was Preventable": Railroad Workers Explain How Wall St Caused the East Palestine Derailment"
- Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "East Palestine, 100 Days Later"
- Mel Buer, The Real News Network, "What Union Pacific and the Media Aren’t Telling You About the Baker, CA, Train Derailment"
- Mel Buer, The Real News Network, "Corporate Billionaires Are Wrecking the Supply Chain. Just Look at the Railroads"
- Useful Idiots, "‘Union Joe’ Biden Sells Out Rail Workers"
Permanent links below...
- Working People Patreon page
- Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
- Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
- In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
- The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)
- Jules Taylor, "Working People" Theme Song