Kawasaki Heavy Industries — a Japanese manufacturer with railcar production facilities in Yonkers, New York and Lincoln, Nebraska — has received billions of dollars in public contracts from transit agencies across the country. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York is the company’s number one customer.
In 2018, the MTA tapped Kawasaki to manufacture new state-of-the-art R211 railcars for its New York City Transit and Staten Island Railway subway lines. At $4.5 billion, this railcar contract is now the company’s largest ever. In their U.S. Employment Plan submission, Kawasaki and its suppliers committed to retaining over 450 U.S. jobs with a total wage and benefits value of more than $270 million over the life of the contract.
However, despite multiple public records requests, the company has not made public its full USEP worksheet – including specific details about the wages and benefits it is paying – or any documents to indicate compliance with the policy and its contract. In a February 2024 affidavit submitted to the New York Supreme Court, Kawasaki’s Manager of Contracts/Marketing stated that releasing this information could “unnecessarily agitate” its non-union workforce.
To hold the company accountable to its commitments and ensure public money creates the most public good, Jobs to Move America is partnering with community, labor, and faith leaders in New York and Nebraska to call on Kawasaki to negotiate a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA). Through a CBA, we hope to secure good jobs, better conditions, and a greater return on investment for the workers and communities that make the company profitable.
Our Partners
JMA is working in a coalition of NY and Nebraska groups to call on Kawasaki to begin negotiating a legally binding Community Benefits Agreement:
- ALIGN: The Alliance for a Greater New York
- Consortium For Worker Education (CWE)
- International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART)
- Lincoln Central Labor Union
- Lincoln Democratic Socialists of America
- Messiah Baptist Church of Yonkers
- Nebraska AFL-CIO
- SMART Local 3
- The Arc of Justice
- Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) Local 100
Relevant Links
- Off the Rails: Inequality, Insecurity, and Unsafe Conditions at Kawasaki’s U.S. Manufacturing Facilities: The report from JMA and Cornell University’s Climate Jobs Institute reveals troubling findings about working conditions at MTA contractor Kawasaki’s railcar manufacturing facilities in New York and Nebraska.
- Press release: Community and Labor Groups Release Report on Working Conditions, Call for Community Benefits Agreement with Major MTA Contractor