A Railroad Strike Could Be Imminent if Negotiations Fail~Supply collapse: America just days away from total rail shutdown as nationwide strike looms

BY RYAN LEDENDECKER

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/ryanledendecker/2022/09/14/bidens-failure-to-prevent-a-railroad-strike-could-result-in-an-economic-catastrophe-n1629445;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

If I were you, I’d go out and grab a few packages of toilet paper before Friday.

At the end of August, I wrote about a poll taken by thousands of rail workers that indicated their overwhelming willingness to strike on Sept. 16, which marks the end of a “cooling-off period” set forth by an executive order signed by President Joe Biden aimed at keeping the railroads up and running.

Two weeks ago, my piece on the potential strike was one of few on the internet warning of the potential widespread economic disaster awaiting Americans should the railroads — especially freight lines — shut down for any length of time.

I noted at the time:

To be clear, a railroad worker strike would be an unmitigated disaster for America, and it would probably make the early pandemic supply chain issues, which were certainly bad, look like no big deal.

Finally, roughly 48 hours ahead of a possible strike guaranteed to cripple the U.S. economy, the issue gained the attention it deserves. A quick scroll through social media this morning — and this is purely anecdotal — gave me the gut feeling that a strike is imminent. Workers are clearly ticked-off and claim to have been mistreated for far too long, demanding nothing less than total satisfaction and markedly improved working environments.

Here’s one railroad worker who received a lot of attention over his post, in which he made clear that he believes union rail workers — over 110,000 of them — should strike and send a message.

It would be the first major railroad strike since the 1990s. Railroad strikes have such a profoundly negative impact on the nation that they usually require Congress to intervene quickly with legislation to halt them. In past instances of railroad strikes, Congress has managed to pass legislation and have it signed by the president in less than 48 hours to end railroad strikes.

There’s absolutely no doubt that the Biden administration and congressional leaders, at this very moment, are in a last-minute huddle to prepare a response to a possible strike. But it’s quite the political predicament given that we’re eight weeks out from a major midterm election. Biden and Democratic leaders in Congress could soon be in a position to force hundreds of thousands of angry union workers — a massive voting bloc — to return to work in less-than-desirable conditions.

Yikes.

According to Fox Business, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh has been deeply involved in talks with the railroad carriers and unions. President Biden himself has also reportedly taken on the issue personally, for what it’s worth. The Labor Department recently issued a statement on the rapidly developing situation.

“The parties continue to negotiate, and last night Secretary Walsh again engaged to push the parties to reach a resolution that averts any shutdown of our rail system. This was followed by dozens of calls from the president’s cabinet and top administration officials and months of administration efforts. All parties need to stay at the table, bargain in good faith to resolve outstanding issues, and come to an agreement,” a Labor Department spokesperson said.

In July, President Biden signed an executive order to form a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) to negotiate an agreement between railroad unions and the carriers. A poll conducted in August among members of Railroad Workers United (RWU) revealed that a vast majority of railroad workers rejected the Biden administration’s attempt to intervene.

The RWU survey, as The Hill noted, revealed that railroaders — a vast majority at 96% — are still unsatisfied with the terms of the PEB, and are ready to walk out on Sept. 15 — the date when the PEB-established “cooling off period” ends. RWU indicated on its website that it received just over 3,100 responses as of late August.

National Review noted Wednesday morning that in many ways, the railroad strike, which would cripple the U.S. economy even further, has already begun, as several carriers are halting certain modes of transport and shutting down passenger lines in what appears to be the anticipation of a strike.

The American Association of Railroads said that this week they’ve begun taking steps to secure the shipments of hazardous and security-sensitive materials, such as chlorine used to purify drinking water and chemicals used in fertilizer, and warned that, “other freight customers may also start to experience delayed or suspended service over the course of [this] week, as the railroads prepare for the possibility that current labor negotiations do not result in a resolution and are required to safely and securely reduce operations.”

The NR piece added that Norfolk Southern and BSNF, two major rail carriers, have already initiated shutdown procedures for intermodal traffic as both companies prepare for strike conditions.

Adding more speculative fuel to the fire was Amtrak’s latest response, as the passenger line has already canceled some of its long-distance passenger routes. It made the decision to cancel the routes to avoid leaving passengers stranded on the tracks should the strike commence sometime early Friday morning.

The economic pain from a railroad strike would be tremendous, with the industry reporting that such a strike will result in empty store shelves and billions of lost dollars in economic output — not to mention the unintended consequences for the numerous industries that depend on railroad transportation.

Freightwaves noted:

The Association of American Railroads estimates that a nationwide shutdown of rail operations could cost $2 billion in lost economic output each day, according to a report released Thursday. AAR reached its conclusions by updating data from a 1992 Federal Railroad Administration econometric study.

AAR, which represents freight and passenger railroads, also said a short-term switch to trucks or barges “would be costly and disruptive,” with an additional 467,000 long-haul trucks needed per day to handle the freight that would have otherwise gone on rail.

Hopefully, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has some notes about the situation in her binder, because something tells me she’s gonna have more than a couple of questions from the press on the matter in the coming days.

__________________________________________________________________________

BY ETHAN HUFF

SEE: https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-09-14-america-days-away-nationwide-rail-strike-shutdown.html;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

(Natural News) By the end of the week (around September 18), more than 100,000 railroad workers across America are slated to walk off the job as part of a nationwide freight-rail strike that has been brewing for several months now.

Officials from the Biden regime are reportedly in talks right now with others in the transportation industry, including truckers, shippers, and air freight, to forge “contingency plans” for when the rail shutdown inevitably materializes. Loss of rail service will deliver a massive blow to an already fragile and failing supply chain, we are told, and Biden’s people have been tasked with developing a solution.

Nearly 30 percent of all United States freight moves via rail, the latest data shows. Half of that is bulk commodities such as energy, food, chemicals, metals, and wood products, while the other half is shipping containers full of consumer goods.

If the strike ensues as planned, the U.S. economy will lose $2 billion per day in supply chain disruptions. This will be an absolute disaster for Joe Biden and other Democrats who are vying to keep their party in power this November.

Will Biden fulfill his promise of being the most “pro-union” president in history?

We are told that most of the railroad unions involved in contract disputes have either already reached agreements or are on the verge of doing so as of September 12. Two unions representing more than 100,000 workers, however, have not and are prepared to strike as soon as Friday, September 16 unless an agreement can be made before the deadline.

At the heart of the dispute is the unions’ demand that workers be allowed to take unpaid time off for doctors’ appointments without being penalized. Rail lines do not want to allow that while workers say it needs to be part of their contracts if they are to continue working past Friday.

It is now or never for Joe Biden to keep the rail lines running, which he promised to do when he dubbed himself the most pro-union president in American history. If talks sour and workers walk off the job this Friday, then Biden will have made an even bigger fool of himself than he already has.

“Most of the 12 railroad unions have reached or finalized tentative agreements with BNSF Railway, CSX Corp., Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern Corp., and Union Pacific Corp. via collective bargaining,” one report explains.

“Two unions, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the International Association of Sheet Metal Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, accounting for more than 100,000 workers, are still holding out while negotiating.”

Amtrak has already issued a warning to passengers that travel interruptions have already begun as three long-distance routes have been removed from its train schedule.

“To avoid possible passenger disruptions while on route … these adjustments are necessary to ensure trains can reach their terminals prior to freight railroad service interruption if a resolution in negotiations is not reached,” Amtrak said in a statement.

The Association of American Railroads also issued a warning that a freight rail shutdown could “devastate” Amtrak’s operations, resulting in tens of thousands of – if not more – daily commuters no longer being able to get to work.

“Coal would stop,” added Ernie Thrasher, CEO of Xcoal Energy & Resources LLC, the biggest U.S. exporter of coal. “No coal is going to move until these guys go back to work.”

Other products that will no longer move include corn, wheat, soybeans, and other soy-based products, lumber, corn syrup, liquor, animal feed and various other grains and foods.

As the global supply chain disintegrates, we will keep you up to date with the latest at Collapse.news.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalNews.com

ZeroHedge.com