The Biden administration is frantically working to prevent freight train strikes that may cost as much as $2 billion per day by the end of the week, further stifling supply chains and resulting in what the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has called a “economic calamity.”
Marty Walsh, the secretary of labor, has postponed travel, and the White House is having crisis talks.
Tens of thousands of employees’ contracts must be agreed upon by Friday between unions and railways.
Failure could lead to lockouts and strikes by employees.
According to those familiar with the situation, the Biden administration has started making plans for a possible shutdown and issuing warnings about potential economic harm soon before important midterm elections.
Progress is reported to Joe Biden, who attended sessions presided over by the White House National Economic Council.
Rail unions are threatening to strike if a pay deal is not reached by Friday, in action that could cost as much as $2 billion a day in lost earnings to the U.S. economy
Labor Secretary Marty Walsh has postponed planned travel to Ireland in order to focus on talks
President Joe Biden, seen here during a visit to Boston’s Logan International Airport on Monday, has been kept abreast of talks as a Friday deadline looms
The Labor Department announced that Walsh had postponed travel to Ireland so that he could remain involved in talks.
‘The parties continue to negotiate, and last night Secretary Walsh again engaged to push the parties to reach a resolution that averts any shutdown of our rail system,’ a Labor Department spokesperson said.
‘All parties need to stay at the table, bargain in good faith to resolve outstanding issues, and come to an agreement.’
The scramble demonstrated the stakes involved, as the country continues to build back from the coronavirus pandemic and supply chain shocks.
Biden has already set up an emergency mediation board to head off a crisis that critics say has been years in the making.
Widespread disruptions could choke supplies of food and fuel, stoking inflation, and costing $2 billion per day in lost economic output, according to the Association of American Railroads.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote to Congress on Monday demanding action.
‘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,’ said Suzanne Clark, its head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
With tricky midterm elections looming, the timing could not be worse.
‘The last thing they want right now is a major strike in a key sector like this,’ said Dean Baker, a White House ally and co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, told the Washington Post.
‘I think Biden is going to be pushing really hard to get a deal.
‘He’ll presumably push on the employer side but I’m sure he’ll push the union side as well … though there’s a question of how hard he’ll be willing to push the workers.’
As of Sunday, 8 of 12 unions had reached tentative deals, according to the the National Railway Labor Conference said.
They were based on the presidential emergency board’s recommendations that called for 24 percent raises over five years, $5,000 in bonuses and an extra day of paid leave a year.
But those agreements do not include some of the biggest unions and more than half of 115,000 workers involved in talks.
As a result, rail companies have begun putting shutdown plans into action.
On Sunday, Norfolk Southern, which has some 20,000 miles of routes across the east of the country, announced it was triggering contingency plans.
‘Although negotiations with the two holdout unions continue, we still do not have a commitment not to strike and must act accordingly,’ it said.