Railroad freight traffic across the United States could come to a screeching halt July 18 if progress isn’t made on a labor contract between national rail carriers and their unions.
Union officials stressed they do not want to go on strike, but argued they are being forced to consider the option in a bid to get better benefits, wages and staffing.
We aren’t just talking about a partial paralysis of rail traffic.
This would be a nationwide strike, and the entire system would suddenly be frozen.
At the moment the two sides are in a “cooling off period”, but that “cooling off period” will be over at 12:01 AM on July 18th…
The two sides were forced into a 30-day “cooling off period” after failing to reach an agreement working through the National Mediation Board. The cooling off period prevents unions from striking or railroads from locking out their workers while they continue to negotiate.
That cooling off period ends at midnight on July 18, and a coalition of unions could choose to go on strike at that point, said Sheet Metal Air Rail Transportation union president Jeremy Ferguson.
Railroad freight traffic across the United States could come to a screeching halt July 18 if progress isn’t made on a labor contract between national rail carriers and their unions.
Union officials stressed they do not want to go on strike, but argued they are being forced to consider the option in a bid to get better benefits, wages and staffing.
We aren’t just talking about a partial paralysis of rail traffic.
This would be a nationwide strike, and the entire system would suddenly be frozen.
At the moment the two sides are in a “cooling off period”, but that “cooling off period” will be over at 12:01 AM on July 18th…
The two sides were forced into a 30-day “cooling off period” after failing to reach an agreement working through the National Mediation Board. The cooling off period prevents unions from striking or railroads from locking out their workers while they continue to negotiate.
That cooling off period ends at midnight on July 18, and a coalition of unions could choose to go on strike at that point, said Sheet Metal Air Rail Transportation union president Jeremy Ferguson.
We are a Class II railroad so this won’t directly affect us. Our labor contract is in house. Our medical is based on the national contract I believe, however. We trade cars with the UP and BN so a drop off in traffic could be seen as well. I’ve been out injured for a month so I’m pretty out of the loop.
