LOCALIZE IT: Strike deadline nears for key freight railroads
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The nation’s largest freight railroads are negotiating contracts with their 12 unions ahead of Friday’s looming strike deadline.
The 13 contracts being negotiated cover roughly 115,000 workers at Union Pacific, CSX, Norfolk Southern, BNSF, Kansas City Southern and other railroads that carry thousands of carloads if imported goods, packages, chemicals, cars, coal, grain and other raw materials across every state in the nation. A single carload can carry enough wheat to make 260,000 loaves of bread or enough fertilizer to treat 4,500 acres of farmland.
The Association of American Railroads trade group estimates a railroad strike would cost the economy some $2 billion a day and disrupt all kinds of businesses and passenger traffic nationwide.
If all the unions can’t agree on a new contract by Friday’s deadline, Congress is expected to intervene to block a strike or lockout. Lawmakers are likely to vote to impose contract terms on both sides based on the Presidential Emergency Board’s recommendations, but they could also order additional negotiations or arbitration or take some other action to resolve the stalemate.
A number of business groups have sent letters to Congress urging lawmakers to be ready to block a strike, but it’s not immediately clear how quickly Congress could act if it comes to that.
Some tips for localizing the story:
BACKGROUND
The federal Railway Labor Act that governs railroad contract talks won’t allow a strike or lockout to happen until after 12:01 a.m. this Friday because that’s when a 30-day cooling off period ends.
The negotiations began in the fall of 2019 when both sides exchanged their initial proposals. The pandemic forced some of the contract talks to be held virtually and slowed contract talks, and the two sides were unable to reach agreements even with the help of government mediators. Workers haven’t had a raise since 2019 even as they kept working throughout the pandemic.
After mediation failed, President Joe Biden appointed a Presidential Emergency Board of experienced arbitrators who held hearings with the railroads and their unions before issuing a report on Aug. 16 with recommendations for a new contract.
The major freight railroads backed the recommendations in that report, and most of the railroad unions have reached tentative agreements based on them.
But two main unions that are still negotiating with the railroads are the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) that represents engineers and the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART-TD) union that represents conductors. Those unions have been holding out in the hope that railroads will go beyond what the Presidential Emergency Board recommended and address some of their concerns about working conditions.
Those unions say some railroads have adopted strict attendance policies that make it difficult to take any time off, but the railroads say those policies are needed to ensure they have the crews they need to operate their trains. Unpredictable railroad schedules also make it hard for workers to know when they will be off. The unions also complain that their workloads have become unbearable because the major railroads have eliminated nearly one-third of their jobs over the last six years as they overhauled their operations to rely on fewer, longer trains.
The railroads began curtailing shipments of hazardous materials and other commodities this week to prepare for a possible work stoppage. The railroads said that move was necessary to ensure that dangerous cargo isn’t stranded somewhere along the tracks if the trains do stop moving. Unions criticized that move.
RESOURCES
— The full 124-page report detailing the Presidential Emergency Board’s recommendations is available online. An AP story summarizing the recommendations for 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses as part of a five-year deal that is retroactive to 2020 is available here. The recommendations also include one additional paid leave day a year, and they call for workers to pay a larger share of their health insurance costs but their cost would be capped at 15% of the total cost of their health plans.
— The Association of American Railroads trade group published a report estimating that a railroad strike would cost the economy some $2 billion a day and disrupt many businesses and passenger traffic nationwide. A copy of the report is available online.
— The National Railway Labor Conference that negotiates on behalf of the railroads posts updates on the contract talks on its website. The SMART-TD and BLET unions post statements about the contract talks on their websites.
QUESTIONS/REPORTING TIPS
— Seek out businesses in your area that rely on railroads to deliver their raw materials or finished products and ask if they plan to slow production or shut down their factories and lay off workers if there is a railroad strike. Local wastewater treatment plants may even be affected if they can’t get the chlorine they need to treat drinking water.
— Check to see if retailers or package delivery services in your area expect shipments of products to be delayed if the trains stop moving. Do they expect shortages of some items?
— Contact members of Congress in your area to ask whether they support intervening to block a rail strike and what action they would support.
— Check with commuter railroads to see if they expect their operations to be affected by a possible strike. Many passenger railroads operate on tracks owned by the major freight railroads.
— Try contacting local offices of one of the railroad unions to see if any local union officials would be willing to discuss the contract negotiations. Besides the BLET and SMART-TD unions, the other unions negotiating with the railroads are the American Train Dispatchers Association (ATDA); the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS); the International Association of Machinists (IAM); the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB); the National Conference of Firemen & Oilers/SEIU (NCFO); the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW); the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU); the Transportation Communications Union / IAM (TCU), including TCU’s Brotherhood Railway Carmen Division (BRC); the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division, and the Mechanical Department of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART–MD).
— To find railroad workers affected by the contract negotiations, you might be able to search social media sites, such as Twitter, for people speaking out about the Presidential Emergency Board’s recommendations or possibility of a rail strike.
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Localize It is an occasional feature produced by The Associated Press for its customers’ use. Questions can be directed to Katie Oyan at koyan@ap.org.