The now-avoided rail worker strike, explained
It's been a tough week for the rail industry — but it seems there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Here's everything you need to know:
The latest:
Unions representing rail workers and freight rail companies reached a tentative deal Thursday morning, just barely avoiding a detrimental strike that could have gone into effect early Friday. Per The New York Times, the compromise now moves to "union members for a ratification vote, which is a standard procedure in labor talks." Workers have agreed not to strike in the meantime.
Labor Secretary Marty Walsh brokered the discussions between the two parties, which "began Wednesday morning and lasted 20 hours," the Times notes. President Biden joined via phone around 9 p.m. on Wednesday. "The tentative agreement reached tonight is an important win for our economy and the American people," Biden said in a post-deal statement. "It is a win for tens of thousands of rail workers who worked tirelessly through the pandemic to ensure that America's families and communities got deliveries of what have kept us going during these difficult years."
The five-year deal, which is retroactive to 2020, "includes the 24 percent raises and $5,000 in bonuses that a Presidential Emergency Board recommended this summer," but also allows workers to take unpaid days off for doctors appointments without penalty — a change conductor and engineer unions had been pushing for, The Associated Press reports. "These rail workers will get better pay, improved working conditions, and peace of mind around their health care costs, all hard-earned," Biden continued. "The agreement is also a victory for railway companies who will be able to retain and recruit more workers for an industry that will continue to be part of the backbone of the American economy for decades to come."
Amtrak, meanwhile, said Thursday that it's working to restore service along its long-distance routes, which were preemptively canceled to avoid blowback from a potential walkout or lockout. The company was otherwise uninvolved in the dispute.
The Week's earlier story on the now-avoided strike follows below:
What's going on?
An enormous rail worker strike could take effect in the U.S. on Friday unless freight railroad companies and workers' unions reach a long-sought agreement over pay and working conditions, The Washington Post reports. Though most of the unions reached a tentative compromise with carriers as of Tuesday morning, two of the largest groups — the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and the SMART Transportation Division — are still at the table, leaving "about 60,000 workers ready to strike if a deal doesn't happen by Friday," adds CNBC.
The deadlock is more specifically tied to "disagreements between management and labor over sick time and penalties for missing work," the Post writes, calling it "a politically challenging stalemate for President Biden, who aims to advocate for union workers but has prioritized untangling the nation's besieged infrastructure in the COVID era." Rail engineers and conductors typically make a decent living — around $100,000 a year, per NPR — but they crave predictability and flexibility in their schedule, which can change rapidly and with little warning. Some of the largest rail carriers also utilize "points-based attendance policies that penalize workers, up to termination, for going to routine doctor's visits or attending to family emergencies," the Post continues. Meanwhile, conductors and engineers have complained they can be on call for "14 consecutive days without a break and that they do not receive a single sick day, paid or unpaid."
"The average American would not know that we get fired for going to the doctor," Dennis Pierce, BLET president, told the Post. "This one thing has our members most enraged. We have guys who were punished for taking time off for a heart attack and COVID. It's inhumane."
If an agreement isn't reached before the federally required 30-day "cooling off" period ends Friday, potential worker strikes and employer lockouts are officially on the table, The New York Times writes.
How is this affecting passenger trains?
Amtrak has canceled three of its long-distance routes in preparation for a potential strike. Though the company is not involved directly in the union negotiations, many of its 300-some daily trains operate on freight rails that would be impacted by a walkout, The Hill writes. Specifically, Amtrak has shut down Southwest Chief routes running between Chicago and Los Angeles; Empire Builder routes from Chicago to Seattle; and California Zephyr routes that travel from Chicago to San Francisco. Northeastern routes — such as those running through Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C. — "do not operate on freight rails and will not be impacted by the closures," adds The Hill.
Even with those adjustments, however, Amtrak has warned further service disruptions could follow depending on the trajectory of negotiations. "If a strike isn't averted," the Post notes, "commuter lines that run between major cities and suburbs could be affected since those routes often operate on freight tracks, which would not be available to passenger trains."
Would a strike affect the economy?
Absolutely.
On a high level, a strike would burden retailers who rely on freight rails to distribute and transport inventory, ultimately causing "a domino effect — retailers will miss their shipping and pickup dates, leaving cargo in limbo without a place to go," the Post summarizes, per supply chain professional Jonathan Gold.
More specifically, however, a walkout or lockout could affect everything from energy to food supplies to consumer goods, CNN adds. Gas prices could rise if oil refineries are unable to maintain current gasoline production, which would likely prove difficult without freight rails. Farmers might have difficulty relocating their crops to food processors, while simultaneously struggling to get their hands on much-needed fertilizer. A strike might even throw a damper on the holiday shopping season, which could see both "shortages and higher prices" should a walkout negatively affect imports.
"The potential here could be significant on the economy, especially for everybody who's relying on the rails for both imports and exports," Gold told the Post. The Association of American Railroads recently estimated a strike could cost the U.S. more than $2 billion a day — though Anderson Economic Group's Patrick Anderson told CNN that projection is a "gross exaggeration." Still, Anderson said, "If we reach a week-long strike, we're in uncharted territory."
What is the government doing about this?
The Biden administration has concocted contingency plans to ensure "critical goods" are delivered even in the event of a strike, Reuters reports.
"We are working with other modes of transportation including shippers, truckers, and air freight to see how they can step in and keep goods moving in case of this rail shutdown," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a Tuesday press briefing. "The administration has also been working with relevant agencies to assess what supply chains and commodities are most likely to face severe disruptions."
Meanwhile, the Labor Department and President Biden have been in contact with the unions and the rail companies "for months" to try and mediate negotiations and avoid a strike, CNBC writes, per Jean-Pierre. "We have made crystal clear to the interested parties the harm that American families, businesses, farmers, and communities would experience if they were not to reach a resolution," she said.
Update 11:30 a.m. ET, Sept. 15, 2022: This story has been updated to reflect the tentative deal reached between freight rail companies and unions representating rail workers.
You may also like
Stray kitten inspires company to redesign its packaging for the better
How an old-school Georgia D.A. could prosecute Trump like a crime boss
