Warren Buffett is unquestionably one of the country’s most generous and influential philanthropists. The 92-year-old legendary investor is worth more than $100 billion—and has promised to give 99% of it away. In 2010, he cofounded the Giving Pledge, exhorting other billionaires to follow his example; this year alone, he’s pledged almost $5 billion to charity.
Yet the narrowly averted U.S. railroad strike earlier this month put Buffett in much less flattering headlines—thanks to some of the for-profit activities that have padded his fortune. His Berkshire Hathaway owns BNSF, one of the country’s largest railroads—and one of the railroad employers that effectively doesn’t give its workers paid sick leave. Unlike 79% of U.S. civilian workers, the railroad industry’s 115,000 laborers can’t take unscheduled paid time off when they fall ill.
