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The National Rail Strike is Getting Closer - Updated [1]
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Date: 2022-09-14
Laura Clawson has posted several recent news stories about a looming national rail strike:
September 13, 2022: Freight rail workers may strike over bosses' outrageous scheduling demands
Tens of thousands of freight railroad workers could go on strike after a 30-day cooldown period ends on Friday. President Joe Biden and Cabinet officials are pushing for a deal to prevent the strike, but the freight companies are not budging on key issues for the workers. Ten out of 12 unions in the freight rail industry have reached agreements with the companies, but the two remaining are the two largest, and the ones representing conductors and engineers who actually operate trains.
July 29, 2022: Rail companies have been cutting costs to the bone, and workers are fed up
Supply chain problems could get much, much worse in September if 115,000 railroad workers go on strike. The workers have gone more than two years without a contract, dealing with one cut after another, including job cuts that have led to serious understaffing. The rail companies have been very profitable as they’ve put these and other cuts into place, but they’ve continued to squeeze workers—and they’re making moves that could harm a lot of people beyond their own workers. In fact, many observers say the rail companies have contributed to supply chain problems as they’ve tried to cut costs to the bone.
I’ve been following this through my work with Solutionary Rail and through Railroad Workers United. Let me add some more info and a bit of a summary.
Among other things:
Railroads have cut their work force by roughly a third over the last few years — while making surviving employees work harder to make up the difference and increase shareholder value.
Railroads are trying to get one-man crews to further reduce payroll costs. Imagine one person responsible for a train 3 miles long that might be carrying hazardous shipments — all alone if something happens and he has to stop it, secure it, and walk the length of the train to find out what the problem is. Help could be hours away.
Speaking of long trains, railroads have increased train length; one long train instead of several shorter ones means fewer crew members needed — but also sidings that are no longer long enough, multiple crossings being blocked by a single train, and other safety issues.
Rail service has deteriorated even while railroads have been making record profits. Some shippers have been forced to apply for emergency action by the government to get the shipments they need when they need them, instead of at the railroad’s convenience.
Railroads don’t invest in going after new customers unless it fits the profit margins they are trying to maximize. There are thousands of trucks on the roads that could be on rail, and customers who could be served… IF they could count on reliable and affordable service from the railroads, and IF the railroads could be bothered to offer it.
Precision Scheduled Railroading is cannibalizing the industry — it’s all about maximizing short-term profit while cutting costs as much as possible. It’s great for shareholders, but not workers, rail passengers, or customers.
Not surprisingly, railroads have been unable to hire new workers despite the pay because the working conditions are so bad. Career railroaders are quitting.
Railroads are being run to satisfy Wall Street, by people who know more about pinching pennies than keeping trains moving.
The Big Four railroads like to talk about how green rail transport is — but they also funded climate denial for years to protect their fossil fuel traffic of coal and oil.
This strike isn’t going to just disrupt supply chains — Amtrak is already suspending service on some routes — make sure Amtrak will be running if you have tickets to go somewhere — the situation is in flux. Some commuter service will be affected, and there will be a lot more trucks on the highways — if they can find enough drivers.
Freight railroads are suspending shipments of hazardous materials as a precaution — and to apply pressure to stop the strike.
The trucking industry is going to be disrupted as well — because a fair amount of their shipments are linked to rail.
I’ve written this up before, and have been planning a followup post — which this seems to be. Here’s a couple of those previous posts:
July 14, 2022: A Major Strike May Be Coming and I promise you no one is ready for it — Updated
July 15, 2022: National Rail Strike put on hold by President Biden - now 60 days away... UPDATED
The national news media really has no clue about the state of the industry. Don’t expect them to focus on much beyond the supply chain disruption, the political embarrassment for the administration, and the money. Which is a shame because rail could make a huge difference in the fight to get off fossil fuels.
This post looks at just one example of what investing in rail for the public good and not just shareholders could do:
September 4, 2022: The Infrastructure B.F.D. for N.Y.C. - an example for the rest of the country
Solutionary Rail has chapter and verse on all the things we could be doing with rail in this country: carbon-free transportation for freight and passengers, clean power for the entire country, revitalized communities on rail corridors, good jobs, less congestion on highways, better air quality — none of which matters to Wall Street and the railroad managers who serve it.
It’s going to be a political as well as economic disaster for the Biden Administration, especially with the midterms coming up. Congressional action may force workers to give up striking — but that doesn’t mean they’ll be willing to go back to work if their issues aren’t addressed. They can still quit.
From The NY Times:
..Labor Secretary Martin J. Walsh pressured both sides over the weekend to reach an agreement, and administration officials have held dozens of calls with the industry and the unions, according to the Labor Department. “All parties need to stay at the table, bargain in good faith to resolve outstanding issues and come to an agreement,” the department said in a statement. “The fact that we are already seeing some impacts of contingency planning by railways again demonstrates that a shutdown of our freight rail system is an unacceptable outcome for our economy and the American people, and all parties must work to avoid that.” ...“A strike doesn’t help anybody,” Mr. Walsh said in an interview late last month. “A strike doesn’t help the workers. A strike doesn’t help the general public. A strike certainly doesn’t help the supply chain.”
emphasis added
Several rail unions have agreed to the terms laid out, but the two with a majority of workers, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the SMART Transportation Division, are still negotiating.
“Our unions remain at the bargaining table and have given the rail carriers a proposal that we would be willing to submit to our members for ratification, but it is the rail carriers that refuse to reach an acceptable agreement,” they said in a joint statement. “In fact, it was abundantly clear from our negotiations over the past few days that the railroads show no intentions of reaching an agreement with our unions.” Together, the two unions represent nearly half the 115,000 freight rail workers covered by the negotiations. While the unions have not committed to striking on Friday, a walkout remains an option, a spokesman said, noting that more than 99 percent of participating members of the locomotive engineers union voted in July to authorize a strike.
emphasis added
Walsh gets it wrong. Here’s the thing — if nothing else is working, a strike is the ONLY thing that workers can do if they want changes in their workplace. That, or just walk away. This says more about the railroads and their mismanagement than it does about rail workers. This is all the more surprising as Walsh is a former labor union official.
I’m just guessing here, but I expect a strike is very likely when the cooling off period ends on Friday, unless there’s last-minute concessions by the railroads or some sign that negotiations are making progress. A strike or lockout will almost certainly be followed by Congressional action to impose a settlement to end the strike — although it won’t solve the underlying issues if they make it all just about money.
More from The NY Times:
Democrats in Congress and President Biden had better be prepared to come up with a solution, because Republicans are already signaling what they will do.
There’s a joke in the rail industry, that the inherent efficiency of railroads is demonstrated by the ability of railroads to survive railroad management. This is too important to be left to Wall Street and market forces.
While it may be thrown out as a scare tactic by the American Association of Railroads, they are claiming a strike could cost the national economy $2 billion a day. As it is, railroads have gotten us to this point through the mismanagement that has put short-term profits for shareholders over responsible operation for all stakeholders. They have put workers, rail passengers, shippers, trackside communities, and the national economy at risk.
Instead of competing by innovating and offering better service to grow their business, they’ve focused on increasing shareholder value through mergers and cutting everything they can get away with.
It would seem like more than enough justification for action by the government at this point in time. Railroads effectively have a monopoly on the transportation they offer. A fresh look at how railroads are regulated would seem to be in order. With the growing urgency of the climate emergency, it’s time to consider mobilizing the nation’s railroad industry as part of a comprehensive climate plan. (Hint, hint: Solutionary Rail has one ready to go.)
We have a national highway system after all, which the for-profit trucking industry makes use of daily. It might be time to look at treating rail corridors the same way, as a vital transportation resource. In any case, it’s clear market forces are not going to solve this in any way that will benefit a majority of the people of this country. It’s going to take government action, and it should be crafted with the long term in mind and the interests of everyone.
This is not something we have to just sit back and watch. As this may well end up in Congress, consider contacting your Representative and Senators to let them know you are seriously concerned about what may happen here, and that you want to see a real solution that doesn’t just try to kick the can down the road. It’s important as a labor issue, as a stronger sustainable economy issue, as a national security energy issue, and as a climate change issue. This is everybody’s fight for a better America.
Special Update: 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: thanks to Albanius for pointing to an article at the American Prospect that lays out just why awful work rules railroads have imposed are driving career railroaders to strike — or just leave the industry.
Thirty-five-year-old Union Pacific railroad engineer Michael Lindsey is representative of that new culture of young workers unwilling to put up with the conditions of the past. “The strike absolutely needs to happen,” says Lindsey. “This is not about money. This is about quality of life. This is about getting time off with your family.” As the railroads have laid off more and more staff, they have forced workers like Lindsey to regularly work 80 to 90 hours a week, leading to an exodus of staff. “In some ways, a strike has already been going on,” says Lindsey. “A lot of people that are calling it quits, just saying I can’t handle it anymore, not necessarily just because of the work schedule. But also because they realized that these are companies that really don’t care about you.”
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