Railroad Worker Strike US

[hshibley]

Has anyone been following the potential for a railroad worker strike in the US? 
 

What do you think this will mean in terms of shortages?

Lets keep this apolitical 

Thanks

[Carrie12345]

I feel like I’ve had a hard time “following” it while being busy around the house because the queen took over television news. 😛

Not sure what I *think will happen, but I am concerned about what could. 

[mom2samlibby]

It's already affecting things. My husband works at a power plant. They have had issues all year getting coal in on time. If they strike, it's going to get a lot worse. 

[prairiewindmomma]

I've been following the news on this pretty closely.  It seems like it's Class A train workers who will be striking---so both freight + Amtrak.  Some of the various unions have come to agreements, but about 40% have not--and IAM 19 just voted to strike despite having a tentative agreement. Unions and carriers are meeting today at the Department of Labor, but so far the carriers aren't budging.

Why can't workers have sick leave? Why do workers have to be on call 24/7? Why can't they have scheduled time off of the on-call schedule?  The carriers brought this on themselves by firing so many people in 2020.

As far as impact to the average person goes---they've already halted hazardous shipments. Long rail trips (cross country) have already been halted.  There's nowhere near the number of semi truck drivers to handle the load.  UPS sends a good chunk of their packages via rail (we stopped our package ordering about a week ago).  Vehicles, auto parts, timber, coal, grain at harvest time....those are the largest impacts, imo.

[prairiewindmomma]

Have the UK rail strikes stopped or are they just paused for the Queen's death?  Lots of rail workers (including machinists) everywhere are striking....

[TechWife]

Amtrak isn't striking. They are having to cancel routes because they use tracks owned by freight companies that they can't guarantee will be clear if the freight workers are on strike.

Being on call 24/7 is not good for anyone. How did this not get addressed before? I think I would be frustrated also.

A lot of raw materials are moved by freight, including ingredients used in food manufacturing. Supply chains are still struggling in a lot of areas and this will complicate matters. New home construction had rebounded in our area, but if there is a delay in moving lumber then there will be numerous delays again.

I think Congress might intervene, as this is already a stressful economic time and this would compound the problem.

ETA: The implications for the fall harvests are staggering.

 

 

 

Edited September 14, 2022 by TechWife

[Laura Corin]

9 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Have the UK rail strikes stopped or are they just paused for the Queen's death?  Lots of rail workers (including machinists) everywhere are striking....

They have just paused.

[prairiewindmomma]

FWIW, about 1/5 of the US's grain goes out for export, and half of that comes down the Snake/Columbia river system to the Pacific. Thankfully the John Day Dam repairs (wheel guide on the lock) have been completed so at least grain can move down even though the rivers are low enough that they're having to use hydrofoil guides.

The intermountain west wheat, beans, and legumes (notably lentils and chickpeas) at least can move to where they are processed (typically it's a Lewiston Idaho to Portland route, and then to either Portland or Eugene for processing). The stuff in the stores here is all from that area.

 

[TechWife]

9 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Have the UK rail strikes stopped or are they just paused for the Queen's death?  Lots of rail workers (including machinists) everywhere are striking....

The rail strikes in the UK have been officially postponed. Maybe they paused operations when the procession was moving from Buckingham Palace to the Westminster Hall. I know that the air schedules were changed/delayed to prevent air traffic over London for that period of time.

 

[Ethel Mertz]

If the strike goes on and if Congress doesn’t intervene, I expect shortages in fuel, various food items, and manufacturing raw materials at the least. We’re tapering off mail orders (especially Amazon — which occasionally fails to arrive and when it does arrive has sometimes been opened).

[Lecka]

How would Congress be able to intervene?

I have some awareness of the air-traffic controllers strike because my friend’s dad lost his job, but I don’t know the details and I don’t know very much about this subject.  

[Kassia]

"Amtrak cancels all long-distance trains beginning Thursday as rail systems brace for strike threat"

[fairfarmhand]

1 hour ago, mom2samlibby said:

It's already affecting things. My husband works at a power plant. They have had issues all year getting coal in on time. If they strike, it's going to get a lot worse. 

My dh is dealing with a backup plan for chlorine for water treatment.

Many water plants across the US depend on rail cars of chlorine.

[TechWife]

28 minutes ago, Lecka said:

How would Congress be able to intervene?

I have some awareness of the air-traffic controllers strike because my friend’s dad lost his job, but I don’t know the details and I don’t know very much about this subject.  

Congress can vote to impose a contract or they could vote to extend the cooling off period for 30 days. I think the latter is more likely. 

https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/3641261-congress-prepares-to-act-on-rail-strike-amid-fears-of-economic-catastrophe/amp/

[whitestavern]

I thought the cooling offer period ended already, or is about to. 

Edited September 14, 2022 by whitestavern

[TechWife]

31 minutes ago, Kassia said:

"Amtrak cancels all long-distance trains beginning Thursday as rail systems brace for strike threat"

Yes, but not because their own workers are striking. They are cancelling because they use tracks owned by the freight railways and the freight railways will be on strike, which means there’s no one to control schedules, maintain track, move stopped freight cars out of the way, etc.. 

[TechWife]

Just now, whitestavern said:

I thought the cooling offer period ended already, or is about to. 

The one imposed by the PEB is about to end. Congress can impose another one. 

[Murphy101]

54 minutes ago, TechWife said:

Congress can vote to impose a contract or they could vote to extend the cooling off period for 30 days. I think the latter is more likely. 

https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/3641261-congress-prepares-to-act-on-rail-strike-amid-fears-of-economic-catastrophe/amp/

And I hate that any negotiation comes to a strike. But I will be furious if congress intervenes.

The companies can’t give people time off because they have been happily running skeleton crews for a decade plus. The only way they can sign a contract that has time off is to pay whatever it takes to get more staff and they don’t want to do that or can’t wrap their heads around how imperative it is to do it. Because skeleton crews are highly profitable until they collapse.  

People should be horrified how fragile our grid is. Seriously people have no idea. Linemen or railway workers - it’s the same issue.  They have half of the numbers they need. So people are like oh the pay is amazing. Well. Sorta. $50 an hour sounds great until you realize they go weeks sleep deprived on the road and lose relationships bc they literally aren’t there.  And it’s hard sometimes very dangerous work. Get promoted? Not likely bc they can’t spare them to move them up and most will turn down the promotion anyways bc it’s a huge paycut from 20 hours at double time every week to salary with unpaid hours bc they end up getting called out to fill in for those who can’t meet the demand. 

Edited September 14, 2022 by Murphy101

[MrsMommy]

50 minutes ago, TechWife said:

Yes, but not because their own workers are striking. They are cancelling because they use tracks owned by the freight railways and the freight railways will be on strike, which means there’s no one to control schedules, maintain track, move stopped freight cars out of the way, etc.. 

This appears to be happening with some Metra lines in the Chicago area as well.

[Murphy101]

1 hour ago, TechWife said:

The one imposed by the PEB is about to end. Congress can impose another one. 

But what can congress do if people refuse to obey it?

I mean they can threaten that people will lose their jobs but only if there is someone else to take the job.  And it’s not like there’s anyone to replace them with. Seriously. There is no one, qualified or not, who is going to rush to take the job.

I guess populace could turn on them like  it does so quickly on teachers and nurses.  But that is backfiring too bc it might end or prevent the strike and it might lay on the guilt trip for not just smiling at being treated crappy at work but it won’t stop people from quitting or not wanting to apply at all for those jobs.

ETA: just wait. I bet next we hear about contract travel rail workers. And emergency exceptions to job requirements to fill the employment gaps with any warmish body.

Because that’s exactly what is happening to teachers and medical staff.

And it isn’t working out well there either. I mean sure the nurses get some better pay and the kids are in a school building. But most who would otherwise be interested in being a nurse aren’t usually interested in travel nursing. And I’m not particularly happy that anyone who isn’t a registered sex offender yet can very likely qualify in some way to get emergency certification to teach in my state. 

Edited September 14, 2022 by Murphy101

[BusyMom5]

We have a lot of RR workers near me, and when they passed this last bit of rules,  I thought they were awful!  Its supposed to be a good job- and if you stick with it about 10 years,your schedule keeps getting better and better (not gone as often, etc)   I do not blame workers for striking,  they need to!  But at the same time,  this is going to increase inflation, more stuff not arriving and out of stock.  I don't knowvhow farmers can keep buying animal feed?  

[prairiewindmomma]

24 minutes ago, BusyMom5 said:I don't knowvhow farmers can keep buying animal feed?  

Honestly, and I say this as the daughter of a former cattle rancher, we will most likely need to raise less commodity meat. With the drying up of the Colorado River basin, and the swings between drought and flood we have everywhere, what remaining arable land we have left should be preserved for more efficient crops for feeding people….not cattle or pork. Raising food prices hurt most people, but market pressure seems to be more efficient at changing the way we eat than any other method. 

[busymama7]

6 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Honestly, and I say this as the daughter of a former cattle rancher, we will most likely need to raise less commodity meat. With the drying up of the Colorado River basin, and the swings between drought and flood we have everywhere, what remaining arable land we have left should be preserved for more efficient crops for feeding people….not cattle or pork. Raising food prices hurt most people, but market pressure seems to be more efficient at changing the way we eat than any other method. 

Interesting thought. I read a book recently titled "the sacred cow" I think and the authors argued that beef ranching is the most efficient use of resources for feeding people.   I don't know if they are correct or not but it did make a lot of sense when I was reading it.   

[Murphy101]

7 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Honestly, and I say this as the daughter of a former cattle rancher, we will most likely need to raise less commodity meat. With the drying up of the Colorado River basin, and the swings between drought and flood we have everywhere, what remaining arable land we have left should be preserved for more efficient crops for feeding people….not cattle or pork. Raising food prices hurt most people, but market pressure seems to be more efficient at changing the way we eat than any other method. 

Yep. Pretty much. Eating meat at every meal or even every dinner will no longer be the norm in a year or two. It’s just going to be too expensive. 

[TechWife]

1 hour ago, Murphy101 said:

But what can congress do if people refuse to obey it?

 

 

They can impose a contract on them - Require them to use the one that is on offer now or, I think, but am not sure, come up with another one to impose on them.

I agree that it's a tenuous situation - Railroads have the  power in that they control the purse strings; labor has the power in that they provide labor in a very niche market - especially the conductors who are advocating for better schedules. Railroads aren't going to be able to hire non-union replacement workers with any efficiency. It's really a stalemate.

Honestly - if you read the history of the 1877 railroad strike, it's really sobering. The equivalent of today's National Guard was involved at the state level and Federal troops eventually got involved, too, prompting a later law that limits the President's ability to involve Federal troops in domestic matters.

 

 

 

[prairiewindmomma]

32 minutes ago, busymama7 said:

Interesting thought. I read a book recently titled "the sacred cow" I think and the authors argued that beef ranching is the most efficient use of resources for feeding people.   I don't know if they are correct or not but it did make a lot of sense when I was reading it.   

as an aside, and then I won't bring it up again on this thread, I just looked up the website for Sacred Cow. I haven't read the book but the book argues that grass finished beef is ethical and sustainable, because the water to feed grass fed cows comes from rainfall. Except, that's the issue with our changing climate. Almost everybody west of the Mississippi can't generate enough natural pasture to sustain any sort of beef operation at scale.  You have to fall back on grain rations, and it's more efficient to give that grain to people than to animals. Or, if you're going to grain animals, if you look at feed efficiency conversions, chickens and pork are much more efficient. Beef is about 7:1, pork is about 5:1, chicken is about 2.5:1. 

I read the infographics on nutrition...it's true that meat does more efficiently provide some nutrients...b6 and b12 especially....but the occasional bit of meat is sufficient to provide those nutrients rather than daily consumption. (And, I'm one of those that tends towards anemia and need meat---attempting a vegan diet as an attempt to better control my rheumatoid arthritis messed me up.)

I think the book is cherry picking a lot of information....it makes some points, but I still believe that we need to be moving away from water heavy foods (almonds, alfalfa for cows, beef, etc.) to preserve water for growing food for people.

[SHP]

2 hours ago, Murphy101 said:

And I hate that any negotiation comes to a strike. But I will be furious if congress intervenes.

The companies can’t give people time off because they have been happily running skeleton crews for a decade plus. The only way they can sign a contract that has time off is to pay whatever it takes to get more staff and they don’t want to do that or can’t wrap their heads around how imperative it is to do it. Because skeleton crews are highly profitable until they collapse.  

People should be horrified how fragile our grid is. Seriously people have no idea. Linemen or railway workers - it’s the same issue.  They have half of the numbers they need. 

Yep. My husband is not RR or lineman but his field is vital to the economy and they run skeleton crew that can barely keep up on the routine stuff. They used covid to further trim the skeleton crew. It is a highly specialized field, you can't pull from the street, fresh from college or even closely related fields without a significant amount of additional training in so many areas. A warm body seems like it is all that is needed, and as long as everything is running perfectly and absolutely nothing goes wrong, sure why not. The second there is a glitch in any part of anything and the warm body doesn't know what to do, things will not go well. It is a bleak picture.

The RR and all areas that are just a blip from collapse is why emergency planning is so important. I cannot stress enough that everyone needs to have a minimum of a week of food and water per person to shelter in place plus 72 hour bud out bags. And keep the gas tanks full. If right now you have to fill up the car to go collect family members at activities and stop by the grocery store to get food for a week you would be in a lot of trouble if, more likely when, the blip happens. 

[Kassia]

11 minutes ago, SHP said:

 

The RR and all areas that are just a blip from collapse is why emergency planning is so important. I cannot stress enough that everyone needs to have a minimum of a week of food and water per person to shelter in place plus 72 hour bud out bags. And keep the gas tanks full. If right now you have to fill up the car to go collect family members at activities and stop by the grocery store to get food for a week you would be in a lot of trouble if, more likely when, the blip happens. 

I'm completely ignorant over the risks here - what would happen with a strike that would make this necessary?  

[Terabith]

Have we tried not being horrible human beings and giving railroad workers decent working conditions?  Is that just completely off the table as an option?

[prairiewindmomma]

Just now, Terabith said:

Have we tried not being horrible human beings and giving railroad workers decent working conditions?  Is that just completely off the table as an option?

Right?!!! I mean BNSF's revenue rose 11.6% last year to $22,500,000,000. That's hella 0s. They can afford to hire back some of the people they fired in creating a more "lean" operation.  A little less profit to not be a horrible employer isn't a big ask.

[hshibley]

9 minutes ago, Kassia said:

I'm completely ignorant over the risks here - what would happen with a strike that would make this necessary?  

My understanding is that the chlorine for water treatment plants is shipped by train. I believe that’s the first problem we will face. 

Edited September 15, 2022 by hshibley
Spelling

[Kassia]

7 minutes ago, hshibley said:

My understanding is that the chlorine for water treatment plants is shipped by train. I believe that’s the first problem we will face. 

Thank you.  I forgot about that.  We have well water but none of my adult kids do.  I'll warn them all to have bottled water available.  

[mom2samlibby]

31 minutes ago, Kassia said:

I'm completely ignorant over the risks here - what would happen with a strike that would make this necessary?  

The power plant where my husband works is dependant on coal to make power. No coal, no power. 

[Faith-manor]

1 hour ago, TechWife said:

 

They can impose a contract on them - Require them to use the one that is on offer now or, I think, but am not sure, come up with another one to impose on them.

I agree that it's a tenuous situation - Railroads have the  power in that they control the purse strings; labor has the power in that they provide labor in a very niche market - especially the conductors who are advocating for better schedules. Railroads aren't going to be able to hire non-union replacement workers with any efficiency. It's really a stalemate.

Honestly - if you read the history of the 1877 railroad strike, it's really sobering. The equivalent of today's National Guard was involved at the state level and Federal troops eventually got involved, too, prompting a later law that limits the President's ability to involve Federal troops in domestic matters.

 

 

 

They cannot physically force them to work. If congress pulls that crap, they need to quit. Flat out walk off. There is NO ONE standing line for their jobs, no one with  training anyway. It would bring the railroad tycoons to their damn knees. In all likelihood, they would end up begging the workers to come back and offer whatever it takes to get them. Enough is enough.

I think that for the American public, we are long past the wake up call that Rome is burning. We have functioned on a rotting, teetering, precariously balanced infrastructure all because every one of us is considered expendable on the altar of the pursuit of unbridled riches. Now the decay is beyond repair, and can't be painted with the glitter that makes people believe it will keep rolling along. Covid exposed the underbelly of the colossal mess our healthcare is. The abuse of low paid essential workers causing disruptions to commodity deliveries was another clue. Global food crisis from the Russia/Ukraine war. Refinery fires, an electrical grid that has needed major upgrades for fifty plus years, roads and bridges falling apart, and now this. We can't just keep going on the grim hope that fortune will favor the foolish.

 

[Terabith]

Maybe I need to start a unit for preschool railroad striking songs?  Or labor songs in general?  We already do "I've Been Working on the Railroad," but maybe we need to broaden our horizons a bit.  "Have You Been to Jail for Justice?" anyone?

 

[Murphy101]

2 hours ago, TechWife said:

 

They can impose a contract on them - Require them to use the one that is on offer now or, I think, but am not sure, come up with another one to impose on them.

They really can’t.  Unless they send national guard to literally hunt down, and chain the very few people with the know-how to a duty station - they can’t make free people work in conditions they don’t want to work in. And a coerced contract shouldn’t be legally binding but even if it was, it doesn’t magically make specially trained people willing to show up to do the work

I’m serious here. We are often functioning with 1/4th the staff we need in critically vital areas.  There is not 3/4 more staff out there somewhere that can do the work and just aren’t for us to  somehow bring in to do these jobs.

If the current staff does not:

a) get better working conditions and pay

So that 

b) they can also give more education and training to people so they can fill these jobs in 2-5 years

Then there will literally not be people to do these jobs. And threats from the national guard to go to work won’t change that. 

2 hours ago, TechWife said:

I agree that it's a tenuous situation - Railroads have the  power in that they control the purse strings; labor has the power in that they provide labor in a very niche market - especially the conductors who are advocating for better schedules. Railroads aren't going to be able to hire non-union replacement workers with any efficiency. It's really a stalemate.

Honestly - if you read the history of the 1877 railroad strike, it's really sobering. The equivalent of today's National Guard was involved at the state level and Federal troops eventually got involved, too, prompting a later law that limits the President's ability to involve Federal troops in domestic matters.

That was horrific. I hope we don’t end up with another blot like that. 

2 hours ago, SHP said:

Yep. My husband is not RR or lineman but his field is vital to the economy and they run skeleton crew that can barely keep up on the routine stuff. They used covid to further trim the skeleton crew. It is a highly specialized field, you can't pull from the street, fresh from college or even closely related fields without a significant amount of additional training in so many areas. A warm body seems like it is all that is needed, and as long as everything is running perfectly and absolutely nothing goes wrong, sure why not. The second there is a glitch in any part of anything and the warm body doesn't know what to do, things will not go well. It is a bleak picture.

The RR and all areas that are just a blip from collapse is why emergency planning is so important. I cannot stress enough that everyone needs to have a minimum of a week of food and water per person to shelter in place plus 72 hour bud out bags. And keep the gas tanks full. If right now you have to fill up the car to go collect family members at activities and stop by the grocery store to get food for a week you would be in a lot of trouble if, more likely when, the blip happens. 

Honestly millions (most?) of Americans can’t afford to keep a week of water and rations in storage for an emergency. Most of them are the same essential workers as these RR workers raising the alarm. 

1 hour ago, Kassia said:

I'm completely ignorant over the risks here - what would happen with a strike that would make this necessary?  

The energy grid and water plants for most of the nation all need something to function that is usually delivered via train.

1 hour ago, Terabith said:

Have we tried not being horrible human beings and giving railroad workers decent working conditions?  Is that just completely off the table as an option?

Apparently it’s crazy talk because the tycoons of today haven’t learned much history from the tycoons 100 years ago. 

[Faith-manor]

2 hours ago, Terabith said:

Have we tried not being horrible human beings and giving railroad workers decent working conditions?  Is that just completely off the table as an option?

Yes, that is completely off the table. Capitalism rules. Humanity be damned. 😠😠😠

[TechWife]

1 hour ago, Faith-manor said:

They cannot physically force them to work. If congress pulls that crap, they need to quit. Flat out walk off. There is NO ONE standing line for their jobs, no one with  training anyway. It would bring the railroad tycoons to their damn knees. In all likelihood, they would end up begging the workers to come back and offer whatever it takes to get them. Enough is enough.

I think that for the American public, we are long past the wake up call that Rome is burning. We have functioned on a rotting, teetering, precariously balanced infrastructure all because every one of us is considered expendable on the altar of the pursuit of unbridled riches. Now the decay is beyond repair, and can't be painted with the glitter that makes people believe it will keep rolling along. Covid exposed the underbelly of the colossal mess our healthcare is. The abuse of low paid essential workers causing disruptions to commodity deliveries was another clue. Global food crisis from the Russia/Ukraine war. Refinery fires, an electrical grid that has needed major upgrades for fifty plus years, roads and bridges falling apart, and now this. We can't just keep going on the grim hope that fortune will favor the foolish.

 

Agreed. Interestingly enough, I'm reading about the Roman empire and Hellenism in particular as I get ready to teach Bible study tomorrow. The parallels really are there.

Add water to the infrastructure issues. Not just drought, but availability of drinkable water. Jackson, MS is still without drinkable water and was without water entirely within the past couple of weeks. Then there's Flint, MI - which everyone seems to agree needs to be fixed, but not much action on actually doing it. Then, there are also issues with airline staffing causing flight cancellations on the fly and abbreviated flight schedules throughout the fall to avoid cancelling even more. Infrastructure.

Many people seem to be truly confused as to why there is a shortage of people willing to work low-wage, high-stress jobs and why others are drawing clear boundaries between work & private lives and between fulfilling job responsibilities & going the "extra mile" for no additional benefit. 

It's all so much.

 

 

[Rebel]

My brother works for BNSF and he told me to stock up on groceries and gas.

[TechWife]

1 minute ago, Rebel said:

My brother works for BNSF and he told me to stock up on groceries and gas.

I don't think we can stock up on gas from a logistical perspective (urban area, no significant amount of personal storage area for flammables). We do have an EV, so that is helpful. We don't need propane.

[TechWife]

39 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

They really can’t.  Unless they send national guard to literally hunt down, and chain the very few people with the know-how to a duty station - they can’t make free people work in conditions they don’t want to work in. And a coerced contract shouldn’t be legally binding but even if it was, it doesn’t magically make specially trained people willing to show up to do the work

...

Which, really, so many people seem not to understand. 

[Faith-manor]

2 minutes ago, Rebel said:

My brother works for BNSF and he told me to stock up on groceries and gas.

I am going Friday morning to a city four hours one way to my son and his roommates with food. They live without margin, pay check to pay check while in grad school, the three of them, and they are already cutting corners too much on food without this. Groceries here are easily 30-35% less. We live in a rural, agricultural area with a lot of food production and less dependency on shipping if willing to eat locally grown produce, dairy, and meat, eat simply. I am taking them a ton of stuff. I worry about them so much. 

 

[TechWife]

Overview of Railway Labor Act:

https://railroads.dot.gov/sites/fra.dot.gov/files/fra_net/1647/Railway Labor Act Overview.pdf

 

Text of Railway Labor Act:

https://nmb.gov/NMB_Application/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Railway-Labor-Act-amended-Feb-14-2012.pdf

 

NLRB Railway flow chart:

https://raillaborfacts.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/NRLC_CB_Flowchart_V3b.pdf

 

To get an idea of how wide the scope of this is - here is a list of the involved companies and unions:

https://raillaborfacts.org/bargaining-essentials/the-parties/

 

 

 

[Ausmumof3]

9 hours ago, Carrie12345 said:

I feel like I’ve had a hard time “following” it while being busy around the house because the queen took over television news. 😛

Not sure what I *think will happen, but I am concerned about what could. 

We ended up in ER on the weekend! It was the worst possible time. I like the queen but four hours of ceremonies was a bit much 😂

[SHP]

2 hours ago, TechWife said:

I don't think we can stock up on gas from a logistical perspective (urban area, no significant amount of personal storage area for flammables). We do have an EV, so that is helpful. We don't need propane.

Similar logistical nightmare here. We are filling up whenever we go somewhere. We can get around by bike, on foot, and by bus (if running) if needed. 

[bookbard]

6 hours ago, Terabith said:

Have we tried not being horrible human beings and giving railroad workers decent working conditions?  Is that just completely off the table as an option?

Exactly. We've had rolling strikes for the local trains for months (in NSW). The Premier simply will not do what they ask, and keeps lying and persuading the media to lie about what is going on. The government is trying to remove guards from the trains and just have a driver. The union argues that they need a guard on each train to help people with disabilities and for safety in general. I don't know who will win, but I know who is losing. 

[TechWife]

The news is reporting that there is a deal. The details aren’t in the pieces I’ve read, just the info that the White House announced it at 5ish this morning. 

[whitestavern]

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-reaches-tentative-agreement-with-rail-workers-strike-2022-09-15/
 

[Faith-manor]

Crisis averted for the moment. But, these infrastructure failures just keep happening because no one wants to address the elephant in the room which is the 2% are determined to consolidate wealth and power to a degree that 98% are so oppressed that we may as well declare the US a feudal state. All of these temporary, quick fixes, do not ever address the underlying cause. What does it take to get the country to see that the "American experiment" has failed miserably? Millenials and Gen Z are inheriting an absolute nightmare.

If this deal does not include a massive hiring and training by the railroads to bring staffing levels back up to safe operating levels, then it won't be long, and we will be right back to this point. In the next five years, a ton of the current work force will be retiring, aging to a level in which their bodies can't keep working these physically demanding jobs. Who is going to take their place? As near as I can tell, the fat cats at the top who are prepared to sell off their stock right before announcing "we effed up again", will cash in, buy islands in the Pacific and retire like Caesars. They don't care what it does to the nation, to the people. They have NO incentive to fix this. None. And apparently, gutting the country by looting and pillaging it like Visigoths is perfectly acceptable and legal. Of course stock went up on the news of the deal. Watch it climb for a little bit, and then the investors do a massive sell off. It has probably been planned in their corporate board rooms for several years now.

So ya. For now, it limps along. Seriously doubtful that even if some concessions to the unions were made, any substantial change is on the horizon.

[Murphy101]

5 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

Crisis averted for the moment. But, these infrastructure failures just keep happening because no one wants to address the elephant in the room which is the 2% are determined to consolidate wealth and power to a degree that 98% are so oppressed that we may as well declare the US a feudal state. All of these temporary, quick fixes, do not ever address the underlying cause. What does it take to get the country to see that the "American experiment" has failed miserably? Millenials and Gen Z are inheriting an absolute nightmare.

If this deal does not include a massive hiring and training by the railroads to bring staffing levels back up to safe operating levels, then it won't be long, and we will be right back to this point. In the next five years, a ton of the current work force will be retiring, aging to a level in which their bodies can't keep working these physically demanding jobs. Who is going to take their place? As near as I can tell, the fat cats at the top who are prepared to sell off their stock right before announcing "we effed up again", will cash in, buy islands in the Pacific and retire like Caesars. They don't care what it does to the nation, to the people. They have NO incentive to fix this. None. And apparently, gutting the country by looting and pillaging it like Visigoths is perfectly acceptable and legal. Of course stock went up on the news of the deal. Watch it climb for a little bit, and then the investors do a massive sell off. It has probably been planned in their corporate board rooms for several years now.

So ya. For now, it limps along. Seriously doubtful that even if some concessions to the unions were made, any substantial change is on the horizon.

My husband had to call in a former train conductor at work last week and he said he left 5 years ago after the SECOND time he was so exhausted that he nearly derailed his train.  Those people who sleep around the trains in the train yards? They usually are not homeless people. They are workers who don’t have a chance to go home and sleep before getting called in again so they just pass out wherever they can.  Everyone takes no dozes daily.  To his knowledge talking with former coworkers,  his position was never hired for after he left.  Other people had to just take up more after he left.

This how almost all infrastructure is these days. And that’s got doom and gloom written all over it bc it’s just not sustainable. It’s pure dumb luck and undeserved miracles it hasn’t all collapsed like a card tower already.