Will there be a national rail strike?
Just what we need economically – not:
One of the unions representing rail workers said Wednesday that its members rejected a proposed deal with rail carriers and voted to move forward with a strike that could have severe consequences for the U.S. economy.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers issued a statement saying that roughly 4,900 of its members turned down the tentative agreement with the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC) representing railroads, but noted that they would hold off on striking for at least a few weeks while other unions continue their talks…
IAM is one of four unions that remain holdouts on the deal put forth by the presidential emergency board (PEB) appointed by President Biden. Another eight rail unions have agreed to the plan.
Two other major rail unions signaled over the weekend that they would not sign on without further concessions from railroads. The leaders of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) Transportation Division and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) Teamsters Rail Conference issued a joint statement Sunday saying that the PEB proposal does not go far enough to improve working conditions for members.
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) says the strike would cost the nation more than two billion a day.
A lot of articles say the strike may happen this Friday, but I tend to doubt it. There’s a lot of negotiating occurring, and the Democrats have a very very strong interest in delaying this because it’s almost a certainty it would hurt them politically.
The labor dispute that could lead to the first national railroad strike in 30 years could begin as soon as this Friday. About 60,000 union members who work for the railroad are set to go on strike, including the engineers and conductors who make up the two-person crews on each train. Even though 45,000 other union members belong to unions that have reached tentative deals with the railroads, a strike by engineers and conductors would bring the freight rail system, which carries nearly 30% of the nation’s freight, to a grinding halt.
Also:
Democrats in Congress have promised to pass legislation to extend a deadline, an act within Congress’ power, if a deal can’t be reached. This is a test to see if the Democratic Party is controlled by moderates or the leftists like progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) with the backing of Squad leader Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). It seems unlikely that the Democrats in the Senate, with Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) who just last week rallied with striking British rail workers, will agree to a deal opposed by some union leaders.
Interesting times.
What is Transportation Secretary Buttigieg’s role, if any, in these negotiations?
Actually, what has Buttigieg done in any capacity since he checked off the “homosexual” box on his (figurative) application to be awarded a Cabinet title?
What is Transportation Secretary Buttigieg’s role, if any, in these negotiations?
A student of Buttigieg’s activity offered that his job was to provide “comms” for the Transportation department.
The only question here is how they will blame it on Trump.
Actually, what has Buttigieg done in any capacity since he checked off the “homosexual” box on his (figurative) application to be awarded a Cabinet title?
Practiced his “chestfeeding” skills, natch (I wonder whether he and his “husband” have been affected by the baby formula shortage, BTW).
David McCullough dies and now people are finding out why their grandparents didn’t much care for Harry Truman (inflation, strikes, foreign policy flubs, accusations of fascism against his opponents, tired little guy populist routines) and their more distant ancestors didn’t love John Adams (persecution of political opponents, political tone deafness). Both of them were brighter and more competent than Biden, though.
This paragraph from the linked CNN article begins very strangely:
Swung and missed by a country mile – they make it sound as if this whole “dispute” just suddenly (unexpectedly!!) blew up out of nowhere. Not the slightest indication given of the years-long context that seems to be the real driving force from the unions’ point of view.
Is the writing by the two reporters really that sloppy, or are they really that clueless? If I were ever to be found publishing such a sentence, I would call in sick and hide in bed at home for a week out of embarrassment.
M J R asks a great question. Why is the Secretary of Transportation being apparently skipped over completely in these negotiations? To be fair, I can superficially understand the point of view of the administration choosing to look on this as a labor and not a transportation issue, since we have unions involved, therefore it’s automatically allocated to “labor”. But Buttigieg was supposedly the big fan of trains, or so I heard. (What does he actually do, again?)
Railroads laid off a lot of people during the pandemic and are having problems getting many of them back. Work life, always problematic at the RRs, has apparently become worse due to understaffing and the transition to ‘Precision Standard Railroading’, so people are on-call basically all the time.
I just posted several rail links here:
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/68279.html
is the pope argentine, that other query is debatable,
they want to inflict more pain on us, so magic eightball says maybe,
Philip Sells – I’ve noticed that news articles have become more open speculations about what *could* happen than actual reports of what *did* happen. The four years of the Trump administration seems to have been when this ridiculous style of news reporting became mainstream – mostly in breathless reports of nonsense that ‘could, if true, be a bombshell.’
FWIW, as of 4 p.m., Amtrak said that it plans “to cancel all long-distance trains beginning on Thursday, including the Auto Train between Virginia and Florida, and all its other interstate routes. The railroad warns that state-sponsored trains could also be affected once the strike begins. Trains on the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, which Amtrak owns, are unlikely to be affected, and Amtrak plans to continue operating a full Acela schedule.”
https://news.yahoo.com/amtrak-cancels-long-distance-trains-202226049.html
Gotta make sure the Boswash aristos won’t be inconvenienced.
If California fast food workers are ‘due’ a wage of $22.00 an hour, which by the way translates to a yearly full time salary of $45,760.00… which BTW doesn’t count overtime…
How much more should railroad workers get?
Ready for $20.00 for 4 rolls of TP?
PS: my Dad used to say he knew the country had gone into the toilet, when the politicians started to tax you to wipe your ass!
@NewYorkCentral, that’s a very interesting point. I’ll have to look out for that.
It’s a good kind of irony seeing you comment here, since you’re named after a railroad, and here we are on a thread about railroads! (And the anniversary of the opening of the Albany-Schenectady leg is next week!)
@David Foster, I think it was your articles on that subject that first clued me into the background. Thanks for those!
Wasn’t the “IAM” the union that killed off Eastern Airlines ?
“The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers” Used to be “International Association of Machinists.”
“the transition to ‘Precision Standard Railroading’, so people are on-call basically all the time.”
One of the signs of an economic system on the downward slide is an over-emphasis on efficiency. People stop making new things and blazing new trails and focus on squeezing every last dime out of what exists.
Mike
All Roads Lead to Peter Zeihan Dept:
In the next ten years and more we are going to learn how crucial the world’s transportation links and supply chains are, as they unravel for one reason or another.
Today I went shopping and noticed how many items — my fave burger, bags of lemons, smoked salmon, eggs, and even caramel syrup — weren’t available, when I had come to take them for granted.
This may be the future. I am inconvenienced, but it will be worse, often much worse, elsewhere.
And everybody will be paying more.
Tyrus the wrestler on gutfeld pointed out chlorine is one of the things shipped on trains were getting pretty close to that will smith vehicle (successor to the omega man)
Gotta make sure the Boswash aristos won’t be inconvenienced.
IIRC, rail is responsible for less than 2% of inter-city passenger travel. Rail is for freight hauling.
didn’t much care for Harry Truman (inflation, strikes, foreign policy flubs, accusations of fascism against his opponents, tired little guy populist routines)
The Truman era inflation was milder than that during the period running from 1966 to 1982 and the Fed successfully restabilized prices in 1951-52 without a recession. Truman traveled abroad only 3x during his eight years in office – a courtesy visit to Mexico, a courtesy visit to Canada, and the Potsdam Conference. He actually presided some of the most consequential diplomacy in living memory. No one gets by without making mistakes. BTW, Congress and the President engineered a rapid demobilization in 1945-47 which incorporated an 80% reduction in the rate of military expenditure and cutting the number in uniform by about 90%. They managed to balance the budget more than once during Truman’s years.
Both of them were brighter and more competent than Biden, though.
Not sure Biden has any competition for the bottom of the heap, and we’re less than two years into this farce. Partisan Democrats get by pretending it isn’t happening.
Bunge hasn’t discovered engineering. Which is about innovation and applied science but also about making things at the lowest cost for a given standard of performance.
Why oh why did the semiconductor manufacturers pursue lower cost and higher performance products? Why do they make components smaller and smaller and watch costs so closely? Profit. Duh. Bunge the ID10T.
Yes the party is entirely deranged wat past the point 4 labour socialists they at least acknowledged biological facts
As if this morning, a deal has reportedly been reached. Score 1 for Neo. Now we have to endure 2 weeks of Biden crowing.
Biden fans claiming a victory. Note — already economic downside experienced because of the failure to get this done months ago. Already delayed shipments because of uncertainty over whether they would be stranded.
The rail companies need to get the unions that have accepted the proposal to pressure the unions that have rejected it to retreat and accept. There is no other leverage the companies and government have to use. Pushing the deadline will help facilitate that move.
Seems like a ‘last minute’ agreement. Totally not, freak out the rubes … err .. public, then buy off the unions with $11k Danegeld and 25% raise and able to claim ‘victory’ in solving problem a huge (D) constituency created with money from the rest of us (and poor, unconnected (D)) by (D) leadership. No, this is totally on the up and up.
Looks like “Amtrack” Joe has saved the day. His propagandists in the media will claim another “big win” for Joey Plugs. Wait’ll Russia caves on Ukraine–he’ll be a shoo-in for 2024.
Strike postponed until November 9th, 2022.
Union leaders can’t completely destroy the economy during election season.
@ Kris > “able to claim ‘victory’ in solving problem a huge (D) constituency created”
It works analogously to the infamous “sue and settle” that Obama perfected to allow agencies (mostly the EPA) to “settle” a lawsuit brought by activists and enact the policies they wanted as part of the settlement, when Congress wouldn’t oblige by establishing them by law.