WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden called railroad and union leaders on Monday in a direct effort to avoid a potential railroad work stoppage, according to multiple media reports.
The Washington Post reports Biden’s calls followed emergency meetings last week at the White House led by the National Economic Council, and that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is also trying to end an impasse between railroads and their two operating unions. Politico reports Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has also been involved.
A 30-day cooling off period for negotiations ends at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 16, at which time unions without agreements can strike or be locked out by the railroads. Railroads have begun turning away shipments in preparation for a possible work stoppage, and a Federal Railroad Administration representative told the post the FRA “is initiating oversight and enforcement efforts to ensure safety during any potential interruption of rail operations.”
Eight unions have announced tentative deals — and BNSF Railway said in a message to customers on Monday that a ninth has been reached, although it has yet to be announced. Those agreements, which have yet to be ratified, are based on the recommendations of the Presidential Emergency Board that called for a 24% compounded raise over the five-year life of the agreement, retroactive to 2020.
But the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, and International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division (SMART-TD) is seeking changes to work rules and working conditions, saying their unions have borne the brunt of reductions in the workforce and operating changes under the railroads’ Precision Scheduled Railroading operating model. In its most recent statement, the railroads’ bargaining group, the National Carriers’ Conference Committee, characterized these demands as “positions that were expressly rejected by the PEB” [see “Three more unions reach tentative agreements …,” Trains News Wire, Sept. 11, 2022].
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