Railroad worker strike incoming - shortages about to get critical

[Suck My Glock]

I guess the unions figure they better organize strikes now before the Republican wave crashes into Washington. But of course, never mind how that will make the current supply chain phuckery get even more phucked.

Stock up on stuff [highlight=yellow]now[/highlight] guys.

https://www.railwayage.com/regulatory/nmb-starts-clock-toward-rail-shutdown/

The National Mediation Board (NMB) on June 14 set in motion a ticking time bomb toward an economy-jolting national railroad shutdown within 90 days

 

[Firewhenready7]

This is on purpose. The railroad could change this but they would rather blame crew shortages. Everything that is wrong has been created by them.

 

[xerts1191]

This could get entertaining, start using office personnel that haven’t engineered in a while, and using replacement engineers, what could go wrong?

 

[Electric303]

"If the president declines to intercede in the railroad labor negotiations by appointing a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) before 12:01 a.m. EDT on Monday (7/18), the railroads and unions could opt for operational shutdowns or strikes, respectively."

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/pr...adline-us-railroad-labor-standoff-2022-07-12/

 

[tunnug]

If there's a strike I'm sure it won't last long, last time it only lasted about 12 hours before the company's agreed to a new contract, if there is a strike I'm betting this time around it's resolved within 24 hours, it doesn't take long for the railroads to lose millions, which is the only motivation they understand.

 

[xerts1191]

Train traffic in NW AZ is noticeably slower today, but they are still rolling through on occasion.

Nevermind, as of Tuesday they rolling through pretty regular

 

[Pipedoc]

I spoke with a friend of mine who is a conductor for the railroad. I asked him directly if he thought that they would strike and he said that they might. Not from the media, directly from the front line.

 

[tunnug]

Some want to, some don't, if the presidential board can't come up with a solution by the end of October the unions will then take a vote to strike or not, the negotiations get moved to Congress whose say will be the new contract.

 

[Suck My Glock]

Well,...don't rest just yet. Despite the agreement that averted the strike scheduled to happen this past Friday, it can still come undone and happen anyway.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/3646845-deal-averting-railroad-strike-has-potential-to-fall-apart/

Deal averting railroad strike has potential to fall apart

The White House-brokered agreement to avert a railroad strike has the potential to fall apart, threatening widespread economic disruption right before the midterm elections.

Rail workers are set to vote on the tentative deal reached between unions and railroads Thursday morning. If any of the 12 rail unions fail to ratify a new contract, nearly 125,000 rail workers could be headed for a strike.

 

[xerts1191]

Great

 

[Electric303]

The White House-brokered agreement to avert a railroad strike has the potential to fall apart, threatening widespread economic disruption right before the midterm elections.

Good call on the deal falling apart:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...ike-2022-railroad-workers-update/10465309002/

"The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way union agreed to hold off any potential strike until after Congress reconvenes in mid-November to allow time for further negotiations..."

 

[xerts1911]

Just in time for the Holidays

 

[tunnug]

Second verse, same as the first.
Except that this time it'll be after the midterms which by then it won't matter as much to the Democrats/WH.

 

[Electric303]

Seems the railroad companies are rejecting their maintenance workers' demands for more paid sick time. At least for the moment there appears to be a line drawn neither will cross:

https://apnews.com/article/government-and-politics-business-strikes-940da8fc519f8c526ca614e201d01216

Most of mainstream media was falling over itself to laud Biden for heading off a potential strike in the "last minute" but now the follow up failure of that deal is barely on the radar. I had to do a search on the AP News site to find the article and it was released today. Not that this is surprising...

 

[Electric303]

Just an update, the September deal is dead in the water. Without an agreement, railroad workers can go on strike after Dec 9th:

https://www.axios.com/2022/11/21/economy-railroad-union-vote

 

[Electric303]

To be expected the railroad unions are pissed that the September agreement is getting forced on them by Congress and Biden. The second bill passed by the House to impose 7 days of paid sick leave for railroad workers may have had a better chance of passing the Senate had it been only the typical 40 hours of sick leave:

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/rai...nti-american-rejection-sick/story?id=94343427

I hadn't considered that a extended railroad strike might affect municipal water treatment with a loss of chlorine and other water treatment products. Even more motivation to store adequate potable water supplies:

https://www.tpomag.com/online_exclu...-for-treatment-plants-as-railroad-strike-ends

 

[Boriqua]

I don't know enough about the grievances to say whether I agree with one side or the other. However .. IMO the unions had all the power before the election and have lost their trump card.