Rail Network Begins to Feel the Pinch of Looming Strike
A shutdown in the freight rail network could choke off as much as 30 percent of America’s cargo shipments, further constricting already frayed supply chains and putting further inflationary pressures on the economy.

Amtrak began canceling long-distance rail services across the country Wednesday in anticipation of a strike by railroad workers that could hobble the economy and create a major headache for Democrats only weeks before the midterm elections in November.
As Labor Secretary Marty Walsh huddled with bosses from both the unions and the freight railroad companies at Washington, Amtrak announced that it would cancel all long-distance train service outside the busy northeast corridor connecting Boston, New York and Washington, D.C. beginning Thursday in anticipation of a work stoppage.
“An interruption could significantly impact intercity passenger rail service, 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 company said. “These initial adjustments include canceling all Long Distance trains and could be followed by impacts to most State-Supported routes.”
Railroad workers and their bosses have been in talks for months in an attempt to avert a strike but appeared no closer to doing so Wednesday than they were when President Biden forced the parties to accept mediation from a Presidential Emergency Board in July. The board imposed a 60-day “cooling off” period during which the unions agreed not to strike, but that period ends on Friday.
Some of the unions have reached agreements with the rail companies, but three others representing some 60,000 workers are still holding out. Those earlier agreements now appear to be falling apart as rank-and-file members reject them.
The members of a union representing machinists voted Wednesday to reject one of the deals negotiated by the union leaders and authorize a strike, but they agreed to refrain from walking off the job until September 29 at the earliest in order to allow other unions to vote on their respective agreements.
Congressional Republicans on Wednesday chastised Mr. Biden, who vowed to be the most “pro-union president you’ve ever seen” shortly after taking office, for not pressuring the unions to accept offers teed up by the rail company bosses.
“The looming railroad strike is just another example of this admin’s inability to act when it matters,” Tennessee Republican Senator Blackburn tweeted Wednesday. “Biden’s failures surrounding our supply chain continue to pile up & many should question why the self-proclaimed ‘most pro-union president’ couldn’t deal with this major issue.”
In a sign that Congressional Democrats are not keen to get roped into the dispute, the House transportation and agriculture committees postponed hearings that had been scheduled for Thursday to look into issues facing the rail freight industry.
Senator Sanders, the Vermont independent, was less reticent, however. Taking to the floor of the Senate late Wednesday, he said he would “stand with rail workers as they fight for paid sick leave and improved working conditions from rail companies that made $20 billion in profits last year.”
The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, told reporters traveling with the president to Detroit Wednesday that Mr. Biden and other members of his cabinet have been in constant contact with both sides in the dispute in recent days. She rejected pleas from some circles for more strong-armed tactics.
“All parties need to stay at the table, bargain in good faith to resolve outstanding issues, and come to an agreement,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said. “This is an issue that can and should be worked out between the rail companies and the unions — not by Congress.”
A widespread strike would be the first serious work stoppage on the nation’s freight railroads in more than three decades. During the last one, in 1991, Congress forced a resolution to the one-day walkout using authority granted to it under the Railway Labor Act.
The impasse between workers and the rail companies isn’t over wages. Most of the unions have agreed to a 24 percent wage increase over five years and one-time bonuses of up to $5,000. Holdouts among the industry’s engineers and conductors say they want an end to attendance policies that keep them on call for extended periods and don’t allow for flexible time off or sick leave.
A shutdown in the freight rail network could choke off as much as 30 percent of America’s cargo shipments, further constricting already frayed supply chains and putting further inflationary pressures on the economy. A railroad industry association has estimated that a strike could cost the U.S. economy as much as $2 billion a day.