Rail workers seem close to a strike again. Here’s why it matters.
If rail workers decide to strike over these contract negotiations, the first nationwide rail shutdown in three decades. AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File
Once again, the US is on the verge of a railroad shutdown. More than 100 thousand workers across the country could be on strike as soon as December 9th. Union leaders and railroad management had recently reached a tentative agreement to avert a strike. Since then, however, four out of the dozen unions that represent rail workers have voted down those agreements. If one of those unions calls a strike, it would bring the vast majority of the country’s railroad system to a halt. And it would have a profound effect on Illinois, which is the only state to have all seven North American Class I railroads within its borders in some form.
To discuss why the unions are unhappy, what a strike could mean for the supply chain, and how that strike might still be avoided, we were joined by an associate professor of operations management and a journalist from Trains Magazine.
GUEST:
Bill Stephens
Correspondent, Trains Magazine
Gregory DeYong
Associate Professor of Operations Management, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
A fourth rail union has voted no on an agreement brokered by the Biden administration, raising the possibility of a strike next month. https://t.co/mszhmAoxsP
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Prepared for web by Owen Henderson
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