The alignment of the four unions that voted not to ratify the labor agreement has provided a clear timeline for plans to prepare strikes between freight rail lines and with sensitive goods including including chemicals.
Brotherhood of Railway Signals (BRS) announced Third, it will extend the status quo until December 8 to align with BMWED (Brotherhood for Employee Maintenance), SMART-TD and the National Boiler Brotherhood. economic. If no agreement is reached by then, a coordinated strike could begin on December 9. The rail unions that voted to approve said they would not cross the barricades and would support their union workers, risking a nationwide freight rail shutdown.
Under federal safety measures, railroads began preparing for the strike seven days before the strike date. Carriers began to prioritize protecting and moving security sensitive materials such as chlorine for drinking water and hazardous materials during rail cooling.
Ninety-six hours before the strike, chemicals were no longer shipped. According to the American Chemistry Council, railroad data shows a down 1,975 trucks of chemical shipments during the week of September 10 when the railroads stopped accepting shipments due to the threat of an earlier strike.
The Association of American Railroads will announce its planning steps, similar to what it said announced in September.
a new one economic analysis published by the American Chemistry Council estimated that a rail strike would affect approximately $2.8 billion in chemical goods shipped weekly, with a month-long strike resulting in The overall damage to the economy is $160 billion, or one percentage point of GDP.
The ACC represents companies in the industrial, energy and pharmaceutical sectors that, among other manufacturing sectors, include 3M, Dow, Dupont, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP and Eli Lilly.
If no agreement is reached between the four unions and the rail carrier during the cooling-off period, a strike or strike could occur unless Congress intervenes in its power to pass the Trade Clauses of the United States. Constitution. Under this provision, Congress would be able to make legislation to prevent strikes or strikes and set the terms of an agreement between the union and the carrier.
One of the key points of labor negotiations during this status quo period was the request for 56 hours of sick leave based on an executive order on federal contractor benefits.
The Association of American Railroads provided CNBC leave policy explainer updated in mid-October. In a September report, the AAR quantified the impact of a strike on the US economy and supply chain by as much as $2 billion per day.
