WASHINGTON – The National Industrial Transportation League, the largest and oldest group of rail shippers, has asked congressional leaders to prevent a railroad strike or lockout that could begin as early as 12:01 a.m. on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Class I railroads today reached a tentative agreement with the National Conference of Firemen & Oilers, SEIU, the ninth such deal reached with rail labor since the Presidential Emergency Board issued its contract recommendations last month.
The unions representing locomotive engineers, conductors, yardmasters, and signal workers have yet to reach tentative deals with the railroads’ negotiating arm, the National Carriers’ Conference Committee. Although negotiations continue – and President Joe Biden and members of his cabinet talked with rail and labor leaders on Monday – the two sides seem far apart.
On Monday the head of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen told CNBC that the biggest stumbling block was the controversial attendance policies at BNSF Railway and Union Pacific. BNSF denied that, and UP said it continued to work toward a deal with labor unions.
Fragile supply chains can’t handle even a one-day freight rail work stoppage, the NIT League warned.
“NITL members and shippers of all sizes in all regions continue experiencing dismal freight rail service due primarily to the implementation of Precision Scheduled Railroading. Any disruption in freight rail service will negatively impact our nation’s international competitiveness while making inflation even worse which is affecting all Americans,” Nancy O’Liddy, executive director of the NIT League, wrote in a Sept. 12 letter to congressional leaders.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Monday warned that a strike would be an “economic disaster.”
Shippers were bracing for the possibility of a strike or lockout as railroads began issuing embargoes on certain kinds of freight, including hazmat and some perishables, in advance of the Friday deadline.
“NITL members are being drastically affected by such uncertainty including having to plan and prepare for possible commodity embargoes now,” “The sooner Congress acts, should the situation arise, the better it will be for shippers to deploy contingency plans including working with their customers and the communities they serve, as NITL members represent billions of dollars freight movements to our nation’s economy,” O’Liddy wrote.
A strike or lockout also would affect Amtrak service outside the Northeast Corridor, as well as service on several commuter railroads. Short lines also would be affected as interchange with their Class I connections stop.
In a sign of how difficult things are, from the news: The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 19 said Wednesday that 4,900 of its members had rejected a tentative contract that the union had negotiated with the railroads. The Machinists union, one of a dozen at the center of complex talks among the railroads, workers and federal officials, said its members would not stop working before Sept. 29 to give negotiators time to reach a better deal with the companies.
What happens if the unions negotiate a contract and the membership rejects it?
Then it’s back to square one!
It may be the union leaders are worried that if they do not ratify the legal problems are great. If rank and file do not ratify then another whole kettle of fish.. Then the union leaders can say “we tried”
The people on the front lines are the ones who know what they need and it is not just more money.They are the ones out there 24 hours a day and sometimes not home for days at a time.They deserve to be treated like humans.
The carriers just won’t back down from giving guys a day off once in awhile without fear of losing their jobs and they’re willing to hold the whole country hostage for it and playing it out like it’s the unions fault for not taking the money!!! It’s not money it’s time off.. ask me how I know? I’m right in the middle of this and it’s only about time off, not a huge amount just something reasonable without getting fired, nothing more nothing less.
Agree Mr Wayman. Before I retired I was a public employee An by law were not aloud to strike. I knew that whet I went to work for the town. The town would drag out the contract talks for years because they knew we could not strike. By the time we got a new 5 yr contract it was only good for a year an we started all over again. An we never got what we wanted.
The irresistible force meets the immovable object. I an on the side of the union and hope that the management figures how and why they should make livable rules for the crews.