This past Wednesday, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) leaped forward to shoot down and block a resolution offered up by Republicans attempting to find a middle ground for the stalemate that could end up sparking a crippling railroad strike that could kneecap the U.S. economy.
The resolution, which was first introduced by GOP Senators Richard M. Burr of North Carolina and Roger Wicker of Mississippi, would mandate that the unions and freight railroads accept the order from President Biden’s presidential emergency board, which includes a strong 24% wage increase over the next few years and a yearly bonus of $1,000. However, Sanders struggled hard against the resolution, claiming it did not give any of the workers enough sick time.
“Senate Democrats just blocked our bill that would have given railway workers a big raise and prevented a crippling strike and supply chain crisis,” expressed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Senate Democrats just blocked our bill that would have given railway workers a big raise and prevented a crippling strike and supply chain crisis.
If a strike occurs and paralyzes food, fertilizer, and energy shipments nationwide, it will be because Democrats blocked this bill.
— Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) September 14, 2022
“Bernie wants a strike,” explained on Republican aide, as reported by The Hill. Burr had expressed on the Senate floor, “Congress has intervened 18 times in the past, imposing PEB recommendations in whole or in part four times. If we don’t do it, if we do not force this issue, at 12:01 tomorrow night, the railroads will shut down, and the economic impact on the American people is $2 billion a day.”
Just last week, the various railroad unions kicked of preparations for a possible strike by securing “hazardous and security-sensitive materials” in the event a strike would take place and the materials would be left unsecured on a train.
The executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Norfolk Southern, Ed Elkins, expressed this past Friday that 10 of the 12 total unions negotiating with the railroads had reached an agreement, going further, “We asked the two holdout unions for a commitment not to strike so we could continue normal operations, but they have declined,” read a report from Trains.com.
This past Monday, a warning was handed down by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, stating, “A national rail strike would be an economic disaster – freezing the flow of goods, emptying shelves, shuttering workplaces, and raising prices for families and businesses alike, but that is exactly what is likely to happen in less than four days.”
The Chamber highlighted three seperate options for dealing with the negotiations: the recalcitrant unions would join those who had successfully reached an agreement; there would need to be an extension to the “cooling off” period already in place, or Congress would have to apply pressure via the Railway Labor Act to force workers back to work.
That same day, however, Amtrak posted, “The shutdown could have an impact on all Long Distance and most of our State-Supported routes as Amtrak operates almost all of our 21,000 route miles outside the Northeast Corridor (NEC) on track owned, maintained and dispatched by freight railroads.”
The shutdown could have an impact all Long Distance and most of our State-Supported routes as Amtrak operates almost all of our 21,000 route miles outside the Northeast Corridor (NEC) on track owned, maintained and dispatched by freight railroads.
— Amtrak (@Amtrak) September 12, 2022
