October 11, 2022 – According to a report from CNN, a union of railroad track maintenance workers has rejected a tentative agreement with the nation’s freight carrier. With this development, the possibility of a strike that shuts down the vital link in an already precarious supply chain is back.
The deal in question included “an immediate 14% raise with back pay dating to 2020 and raises totaling 24% during the five-year life of the contract that runs from 2020 through 2024.” It also included cash bonuses of $1,000 a year for union members – with back pay and bonuses, that’s an average of $11,000 per worker after the deal is finalized.
However, the financial terms were not the main issue with these new contracts, but because of “work rules that unions said had brought engineers and conductors to a breaking point. Staffing shortages had required crew members to be on call seven days a week, ready to work at short notice.”
According to the report, the Biden administration is desperately trying to avoid a rail strike because of the current state of the supply chain. When measured by weight and distance traveled, the major railroads carry 30% of the country’s freight. A strike could be a devastating blow to the infrastructure of the supply chain.