USA Rail strike?

[pennyk]

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[Joe from PA]

My wife and daughter were in London when the rail strike started. They were lucky to get to the airport for their flight home, since many non-rail workers (like taxi and bus drivers) get to work by rail.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

My wife and daughter were in London when the rail strike started. They were lucky to get to the airport for their flight home, since many non-rail workers (like taxi and bus drivers) get to work by rail.

That’s an excellent point. If we have a national rail strike here, I imagine it will affect commuter rail, and I can’t see commuter rail putting up with being shut down for for long. I imagine they would complain long and loudly til things were resolved.

 

[jpakala]

In the days of "featherbedding" rail employees such as engineers made a killing, both owing to high wages and long-outmoded work rules such as a crew change between NYC and Albany and of course plenty more before reaching Chicago. In the 1970s I remember a passenger train conductor whose pay enabled ownership of a home in a NJ neighborhood most people couldn't dream of affording. Firemen of course got paid for years after most of their tasks no longer existed. Today it is different, but the problem seems to be not ample pay, but awful schedules at least for some railroads. Another fact is the major difference between employees of the big companies and those at the countless small operations. BTW, years back I heard Thomas Mann of the Library of Congress speak about the false narrative that rail's decline resulted from the RRs failing to realize they were in the transportation business (once other modes began emerging). He pointed instead to historical and other factors such as real estate taxes (I remember once seeing the huge tax PRR paid on their Newark, NJ station alone) while competition not only paid no taxes on their rights of way or ports including airports, but also had tax money build and maintain all that for them.

 

[Acela150]

The AP has an article (dated yesterday, so the most recent I’ve seen) saying that 3 of the 12 unions have reached a tentative deal. Not the big two — engineers and conductors— but at least it’s a start.

Keep in mind that it still needs to be voted on. And my gut feeling is that the membership will vote "NO" on this one. Some have a theory that the "NO's" will be the majority of the vote, but yet the contract will be ratified somehow. And without going into details, sadly I can see this happening.

I will add that a lot of RR employees are furious at the PEB proposal. PEB's historically have been extremely close to 50/50. But I read the entire proposal and it sadly favors the carriers by a long shot. Even after the carriers were quoted as saying "Labor does not contribute to profits".... But neither do overpaid CEO's who make millions of dollars off of the hardworking front line workers.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Even after the carriers were quoted as saying "Labor does not contribute to profits".... But neither do overpaid CEO's who make millions of dollars off of the hardworking front line workers.

Sometimes I think a maximum benefit limit is just as important as a minimum wage. Few (if any) are worth what we pay C-Suite folks these days.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Sometimes I think a maximum benefit limit is just as important as a minimum wage. Few (if any) are worth what we pay C-Suite folks these days.

In all honesty, as a Lifetime Member of 2 Unions, this is true of some Union Officials also!

 

[user 13416]

A strike still isn't off the table. Yesterday a third union voted to reject the deal.

Third U.S. union rejects national rail contract deal

The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB), which represents about 300 rail employees, rejected the agreement, said the union and the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC), which represents the nation’s freight railroads.

Last week, the NCCC and another union that voted down the contract -- the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (BMWED) that represents 11,000 workers -- agreed to extend a potential strike deadline until at least Dec. 4.