While half of the railroad unions still need to approve and ratify their tentative agreements with U.S. freight railroads, one of the larger issues that has come up during the negotiation process has been reexamining what kind of work schedule locomotive engineers and conductors should have.
Train engineers and conductors traditionally have had a schedule that has been considered unpredictable and erratic because it depends on the railroad’s ever-changing operational needs as well as...
It’s not just a potential U.S. rail strike putting supply chains at risk. Air traffic controllers in France are taking Friday off, and dockworkers at two major U.K. ports have scheduled work stoppages.
The pandemic, a giant cargo ship stuck in the Suez Canal, floods and droughts, and worker shortages have created two years of havoc for businesses and consumers that depend on freight shipments. Now potential disruptions are coming from within. Workforces, emboldened by a tight labor supply amid...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/transport-strikes-put-supply-chains-under-duress-again
A joint resolution by U.S. lawmakers aimed at ending the threat of a strike or lockout provides little incentive for avoiding a debilitating shutdown of the nation’s railroads, according to a former rail industry legal consultant.
Introduced in the Senate on Monday by Roger Wicker, R.-Miss., and Richard Burr, R-N.C., the legislation would adopt the recommendations issued in August by the Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) that were meant to be used as the foundation for a new contract. Such...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/rail-shutdown-looms-large-even-as-congress-steps-in
Two more railroad unions have reached tentative labor agreements with the U.S. freight railroads right before Labor Day weekend.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and the American Train Dispatchers Association (ATDA) both said the labor agreements are based on recommendations from the Presidential Emergency Board (PEB), a three-person independent committee appointed by President Joe Biden that sought to come up with ways that the unions and railroads could settle their...
The remaining unions that are still negotiating with the freight railroads on a new labor contract are grappling over wages and benefits, while a union coalition’s survey points to broad potential support for a strike.
Meetings last week between labor and the freight railroads didn’t lead to any tentative agreement language that the operating crafts could accept, according to a joint statement from the heads of two of the larger rail unions.
However, union representatives “remain committed” to...
Three railroad unions have reached tentative agreements with U.S. freight railroads on a new labor contract.
The three unions are the Transportation Communications Union (TCU)/IAM (International Association of Machinists), Brotherhood of Railway Carmen and International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
Those unions, whose memberships total more than 15,000 rail employees, or nearly 11% of workers at the bargaining table, will send out the tentative agreement to members for...
Rail union members say the Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) “simply chose to kick the can down the road” rather than issue concrete recommendations on how to resolve union and freight railroad contract negotiations.
The board, appointed by President Joe Biden to oversee stalled labor talks, presented the White House and stakeholders a 124-page report last week listing recommendations on how the railroads and unions can work toward a new labor agreement. The report’s guidance could be used to...
The Presidential Emergency Board has given the White House and stakeholders a 124-page report listing recommendations on how the freight railroads and unions can work toward a new labor agreement.
The report’s guidance could be used to serve as a foundation for a labor contract between the freight railroads and their unions.
A new labor deal has been in the works since January 2020, but the negotiations have failed to progress. A federal mediation board took up the negotiations but released the...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/peb-provides-wage-increase-guidance-to-railroads-unions
Surface Transportation Board Chairman Marty Oberman expressed doubt that the four major U.S. Class I railroads could ramp up rail service and reach the service targets they laid out by December.
In response to deteriorating service metrics, the STB in June required Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP), BNSF (NYSE: BRK.B), CSX (NASDAQ: CSX) and Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) to resubmit plans detailing how they expect to improve rail service through the end of the year.
“I have to say that if you look at the...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/stb-chairman-not-optimistic-about-pace-of-rail-service-improvement
The struggle by the freight railroads and their unions to reach consensus on a labor agreement comes at a time when it is already anyone’s guess how existing challenges in the supply chain will play out over the next several months, according to Ashley Craig, an attorney with Washington law firm Venable.
For starters, there are rail service issues, as well as lingering supply chain impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Craig, who co-chairs Venable’s international trade group....