BREAKING AGAIN — See the latest update at the bottom; the strike appears to have been averted. Amtrak is already working to restore canceled trains.
Yesterday’s news: Via the NY Times:
Amtrak Halts Long-Distance Service Over Freight Rail Labor Dispute
The passenger railroad said trains would operate only if they could complete trips by 12:01 a.m. Friday. Most Northeast Corridor service will continue.
...The announcement was made as the rail freight industry and two key unions remained at an impasse in contract negotiations. A federally mandated 30-day “cooling off” period ends at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, opening a door to strikes and lockouts. Amtrak said the negotiations do not involve its employees.
...It said most travel in the Northeast Corridor and on related branch lines to Albany, N.Y.; Harrisburg, Pa.; and Springfield, Mass., would not be affected, since those rails are controlled by Amtrak.
...Biden administration officials are pressing for an agreement between the freight rail industry and its unions to head off a work stoppage. An emergency board appointed by the White House to help mediate the dispute recommended a contract resolution in August, but the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the SMART Transportation Division, which represent engineers and conductors, are holding out for improvements to working conditions.
Those unions represent nearly half the 115,000 workers covered by the negotiations.
In addition, the roughly 4,900 members of District 19 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers rejected the contract proposal on Wednesday after the union leadership agreed to the emergency board’s recommendation.
Rail workers have been without a contract for more than two years; they have been working under impossible work rules while railroads have been making record profits and refusing to negotiate. Rail (and airline workers) are not covered by the labor laws that cover most workers; here’s an overview of the Railway Labor Act.
For much more on the story, see this post from earlier today.
If you want to learn more about the reason a strike is looming, Solutionary Rail has a video explaining why we got here and why simply throwing more money at workers is not going to be nearly enough.
If you want to express solidarity with rail industry workers, there is a statement at the bottom to which you can add your name if you agree.
UPDATE: Business Insider has a report on Senator Bernie Sanders blocking a move by Republican Senators to force workers to take a settlement that ignores their main issue: intolerable working conditions. (Billybones mentioned it briefly in a comment.)
From Business Insider:
..."The CEOs in the freight rail industry need to understand that they cannot have it all," Sanders said during a Wednesday floor speech. "The rail industry must agree to a contract that is fair and is just. It is time for Congress to stand on the side of workers for a change and not just the heads of large multinational corporations."
Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina and Roger Wicker of Mississippi wanted Congress to pass a set of recommendations from a presidentially-appointed bipartisan panel and avert a strike, even if workers did not voluntarily agree to a deal.
...the proposal would potentially overrule workers' decision on their contract, which they've been bargaining since 2019, should workers not reach a voluntary agreement with rail carriers. Workers are set to strike on Friday if they do not reach an agreement; unions and rail carriers have been in discussions facilitated by Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh and the Department of Labor throughout Wednesday. However, Congress taking action would force a new deal and avert a strike.
Sanders, Wicker, and Burr sparred over the workers' demands, with Sanders emphasizing that workers should get paid for time out sick — and a say in their contract.
..."I wonder if the CEOs and top executives of the railroads would get fired if they got sick or had a medical emergency in their families," Sanders said. "I doubt it very much."
Sanders noted that rail workers would be entitled to no sick days, either paid or unpaid, under the current set of recommendations from the presidential panel. That's proven to be a hardline issue for the set of unions who haven't signed on to the tentative agreement.
"The Burr-Wicker resolution would take these fundamental rights away from workers," he said.
The Burr-Wicker resolution is unlikely to pass; 10 Democratic Senators would need to join all 50 Republicans to get it past the filibuster.
Sanders frames the issue in a way that emphasizes that this is about more than simply heading off economic disruption — it’s about ensuring that workers have a voice once more.
Pundits have made much of Democrats losing the labor vote. At a time of “quiet quitting”, the “Great Resignation”, and businesses having a hard time filling openings, Democrats have a clear opportunity to use this crisis to message whose side they are on. Railroads are the perfect villain to use as a poster child for corporate greed that has placed shareholder value over workers, shippers, rail passengers, trackside communities, and the needs of the nation.
It’s long past time to reject the Friedman Doctrine.
Thursday, Sep 15, 2022 · 5:16:27 AM +00:00 · xaxnar
UPDATE: This article at Mother Jones by Noah Lanard gives a good summary of how railroads have created a self-inflicted crisis that may lead to a strike.
...PSR and the consolidation of the rail industry into seven so-called Class I carriers—down from 40 in 1980—has been phenomenally lucrative. Martin Oberman, the head of the federal government’s Surface Transportation Board, said last year that rail companies have paid out roughly $200 billion to shareholders since 2010—nearly $50 billion more than they spent on infrastructure during that period.
Much of the cost has been borne by workers. Grooters has four weeks of vacation and 11 personal days each year, but they don’t have weekends, or two days of rest during the week. Instead of a regular schedule, they and other rail workers have to report to work within hours of being called up. As Grooters explained in an interview with Jacobin, that can mean working a “morning one day, an afternoon the next, and an overnight after that.”
emphasis added
Read the whole thing.