Freight Railroads set to strike on 9/16
 

Freight railroads that move 30% of the nation's freight are set to strike September 16th when the President's "Cooling Off Period" expires (Presidential Emergency Board). Only Congress can intervene to stop a strike at that point by imposing a deal or extending the cooling off period. The dispute is more about quality of life than pay at this point. The article says Conductors and Engineers are on call 7 days per week which hurts their home life. The parties have been meeting with Federal Mediators and the Secretary of Labor.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/09/econo...=1662901358812

More power to ‘em!

Sympathy strike (?) :D

If Joe releases the RRs, then he needs to release some of us asap.

This really puts Congress in a tough spot. People are already upset about inflation and supply chain issues. A railroad strike won't help but the party in control is supposed to be the labor party. (I don't think they are anymore but we'll see).

I have my popcorn ready. I hope it works out for the workers. 7 days on call doesn't sound very good. I'm all for any transportation workers getting quality of life improvements.

This is what happens when you follow the RLA. Labor gets its say eventually, you just have to follow the process. We are about halfway to first base right now. The railroads are rounding third.

Congress is controlled by a party in both houses that doesn't want to upset organized labor. Most people watching this develop think they will not interfere, which will allow labor to withhold their services and apply the ultimate leverage in negotiations. If I were a publicly traded railroad with multi million dollar shipping contracts, I would be opening up the checkbook really fast.

The main issue in negotiations right now isn't pay, it's work rules. Most rail workers are basically on call 24/7 with a few days off a month. I have a Navy buddy who works the rails and he said it is terrible for any sort of family life or planning since you literally never know when you are going to be at work. It's the equivalent of us being on SWA style reserve 18 hours a day for 6 days a week.