A Rail Strike May Happen After All?
A rail strike, which was narrowly averted in September, is once again at risk of occurring due to internal union disagreements about how much sick time rail workers should be allotted.
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With a strained supply chain already affecting recession throughout the country, a rail strike that workers had avoided, may become a reality after all. As union members recently voted, a strike may be on after success was short-lived.
Let’s flip it in reverse and catch up to all the rail strike drama that’s been happening. First, supply chains have been strained since the COVID-19 pandemic. As the country has been reeling from that hangover, rail workers–not unlike all workers–are demanding better conditions.
And, in all honestly, they are in a situation where they can get what they want. A rail strike was imminent beginning in September of this year but luckily was avoided. through a tentative deal between unions and management/owners.
A rail strike will seriously affect not only commuters, but the movement of goods including food, energy, and water throughout the country. Now, President Biden is getting involved since he made a very emphatic promise to be the nation’s most pro-union president and promised secure infrastructure.
If the rail strike deal were to fall through and Biden does not get involved, he ends up losing trust and respect. However, to unpack the rail strike drama, one may have to understand that there are multiple unions within the railway network.
The railway unions are broken down by not only job, but also commonalities. There are unions for those who work on signals and those who work primarily on maintenance. The most interesting? The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. But, what happens is that unions stick together. So, if one decides to go on a rail strike, chances are, they all will. Or, maybe not.
According to CNN, Currently, there are battles being waged that have to do with the amount of sick time the workers currently get. On Monday, The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Employees Division showed 43% in favor of accepting a new contract and 57% opposed to it.
This brotherhood is the third largest of the major freight railway unions. The deal will go back to negotiations in order to avoid a rail strike, but many workers are disappointed and frustrated. The deals that went down last month were avoided at the last minute following a marathon 20-hour bargaining session in which President Biden had to intervene.
This back and forth and even the threat of a rail strike puts extra stress on our already-stretched supply chain. When threats of a strike start to float around, stock prices are affected as well. However, more and more jobs are starting to look at unions as valuable resources to get their points across.
This is happening because unions work well for employees who feel they have no representation. Recently Amazon employees tried to form a union and they were struck down. Unions believe that when groups of people join together, they cannot be ignored.
However, there is always a risk associated. Especially in states that are known as “right-to-work” states. The employer does not have to have a reason to terminate employment. Hopefully, the unions and management can come to an agreement so they can keep us (and our supply chain) riding the rails with success.
