Railroad strike, and the economic damage it would cause, looms closer

On Sep 14, 2022

While two more rail unions reached tentative agreements with railroad management on new contracts Tuesday, the two most important unions — representing the engineers and conductors who make up the two-person crews on each train — remain at loggerheads in negotiations. If they don’t resolve their differences, the first national rail strike in 30 years could start early Friday.

Those engineers and conductors unions represent roughly half of the more than 100,000 unionized workers at the nation’s major freight railroads. Without them on the job those trains will not run, nor will many commuter and Amtrak trains that run over freight rail lines. Indeed, Amtrak has already suspended some of its routes.

Administration officials have grown increasingly concerned about the possibility of a strike in recent days. President Joe Biden personally called rail unions and companies on Monday while visiting Boston in an attempt to avert a rail shut down, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

CNN reported earlier Tuesday that the White House is urgently discussing contingency plans, with agencies across the federal government working through how they could potentially use federal authority to keep critical supply chains operational as labor talks continue to sit at an impasse.

“The White House is working with other modes of transportation (including shippers, truckers, air freight) to see how they can step in and keep goods moving, in case of a rail shutdown,” a White House official told CNN on Tuesday.

But there are no alternatives to move the freight carried on rail. The American Trucking Associations issued a statement saying that it would require more than 460,000 additional long-haul trucks every day, which it said “is not possible based on equipment availability and an existing shortage of 80,000 drivers.” It called on Congress to act to keep the railroad workers on the job, saying the trucking system itself depends on sharing shipments with the railroads.

The railroads work under a unique labor law that allows the federal government to intervene to keep the workers on the job, rather than freely allowing a strike or a lockout of workers by management.

President Biden blocked a strike through executive action in July, which delayed the possibility of a strike for 60 days. He also appointed a panel, known as a Presidential Emergency Board, which came up with recommendations for a deal that has been accepted by most of the unions.

But not the engineers and conductors, who say scheduling rules that keep them “on call” virtually every day they’re not at work, as well as a staffing shortage, make their work lives intolerable. Those rules were not addressed by the emergency board. Without a change in those rules, the engineers and conductors say they’ll go on strike. The 60-day cooling off period is set to expire at 12:01 am ET Friday, so that threatened strike is looming.

Will Congress act to stop strike?

Unless the two sides reach an…