In an attempt to get increased benefits and salaries, and improved staffing, union officials plan to go on strike on the 18th unless their demands are met, though they stressed they do not want it to come to this.
‘The unions have worked without a contract since July 1, 2019,’ says The Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
If an agreement is not met pronto, freight and rail shipments will cease and lay dormant. According to the Federal Rail Administration (FRA), a division of the Department of Transportation – led by World Economic Forum Young Global Leader Pete Buttigieg – provides over 167,000 jobs all over the U.S., and generates roughly $80 billion on an annual basis.
28% of all freight of all kinds are transported via trains and rail systems:
Heavy freight such as coal, lumber, ore, and heavy freight going long distances are likely to travel by rail, or some combination of truck, rail, and water.
In all, 52 percent of rail freight car loads consist of bulk commodities such as agriculture and energy products, automobiles and components, construction materials, chemicals, equipment, food, metals, minerals, paper, and pulp. The remaining 48 percent is intermodal traffic that generally consists of consumer goods and other miscellaneous products. Intermodal traffic is made up of shipping containers of all types of goods that can be transferred easily from rail to truck, plane, or other vessel, and vice versa.
The FRA says on their website
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Announces $1 Billion To End “Racism” On Roadways
The unions and railroads were forced into a 30-day “cooling off period” after negotiations fell through to work with the National Mediation Board. This allotted timeframe prohibits unions from striking and railroads to lockout their workers while the contracts are debated. Sheet Metal Air Rail Transportation union president Jeremy Ferguson explained that this cool down period ends on the 18th which will then allow the unions to go on strike.
But the Railway Labor Act, which sets out the rules for these kinds of disputes, grants President Joe Biden to intervene and select three members to form an emergency board to oversee the disputes for both sides, allowing them to help find reconciliation. However this yet again prevents the unions from striking.
If Biden inserts these three arbiters, it would initiate yet another 60-day ban on strikes and lockdowns from both parties.
Ferguson says the railroads have been supplicating a 16% pay rise for the last 5 years, but the unions want 36% that would cover the added costs of inflation, productivity output, and increased shipping over the last several years. For reference, Ferguson noted proposals by American Airlines to provide a 12% rate hike over the next two years, and Walmart offering over $100,000 salaries in a bid to lure in more truckers.
The National Rail Labor Conference, who is representing some of the railroads, argued in a blogpost that “the unsupported notion that pay rates must be linked to and exceed the percentage increase in the highest available consumer inflationary measure.” They added that salaries should be contingent upon “benchmarks in the relevant labor market.”
Both parties greatly disagree on healthcare benefits as well. The rail carriers want workers to dedicate a percentage of their checks to pay for their own healthcare. The blogpost purports that the majority workers have healthcare costs below the national average – roughly $12,530 in 2020, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Chris Bond, a Fort Worth-based union official and rail engineer for BNSF, also takes issue with a plan from the national rail carriers to reduce the number of workers on trains. Currently, trains are operated by the engineer and conductor. The railroad carriers have proposed getting rid of the conductor, claiming that new technology will give the engineer all the necessary tools to operate the train (using a 3-mile-long train as an example), and be fully aware of his surroundings and track conditions, which are some of the things conductors do. Bond is not in favor of this, citing multiple engines in a train require the engineer to already remotely monitor all of them at once, taking away their attention from being able to do the conductor’s position.
Per the blogpost, the trade group wants to “redeploy” conductors to “ground based positions” along routes where they would act as assistants in an emergency setting. They assert this would improve efficiency and increase the conductor’s ‘quality of life,’ says the The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and by anchoring them to specific locations and regions. Bond claims this is a safety issue, claiming that rail carriers are trying to reduce labor spending whilst raising profits, via doing more with less.
America’s Largest Railroad Company Deliberately Halts Fertilizer Shipments Ahead Of Farming Season
Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, recently said that demoralized workers are leaving the industry in droves, hurting and causing delays in the national supply chain. He said these workers are being “ground to dust,” after going through three years of increased labor and longer hours but no pay rise.
The longer that these workers go without a pay raise, and a stable contract that guarantees some economic security in the future, it’s just going to get worse.
Speaking on the current debacle
Michael Maratto, a spokesperson for the National Railway Labor Conference, a trade group representing rail carriers in union negotiations, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
Railroads are, of course, affected by many of the same challenges in recruiting that are impacting other employers. However, the railroads are outperforming the broader labor market in terms of recruiting and retention.
He added that rail workers earn roughly $130,000 each year. The mean annual wage for engineers was $72,940 in 2021.
As noted by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, multiple industries are being affected by these arguments and disagreements. ‘Shameek Konar, CEO of the gas company Pilot/Flying J, said limits by Union Pacific on his company’s shipments would decrease the national supply of diesel and increase prices at the pump.’
As the stalemate persists, the membership of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen voted a whopping 99.5% to officially authorized a strike if nothing is done by the 18th.
According to an Associated Press report published yesterday, Biden is ‘widely expected’ to intervene and install three arbiters to review these contracts and settle these disputes.
The AP wrote:
Adding to the supply chain worries is a separate labor dispute involving 22,000 West Coast dockworkers at ports that handle roughly 40% of U.S. imports. Both sides in those negotiations have said they plan to keep cargo moving until a new agreement is reached even though their contract expired at the beginning of July. The ports rely on railroads to deliver many of the goods they handle.
The presidential board can only make nonbinding recommendations on the railroad contracts, but those will serve as the basis for a new round of negotiations that could yield a contract that has eluded the railroads since talks began more than two years ago.
Even if those efforts fail, Congress would likely intervene to prevent a strike. Lawmakers could impose terms on the railroads and their 12 unions at that point or take other action to keep the trains moving.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
The evidence speaks for itself: if Biden does not step-in then the effects will be detrimental, even if it is one day let’s say. If what the AP says is true, that [that the puppet masters who control] Biden intervene and insert their arbiters into the mix, and with Petey at the helm, the compromise, I have no doubt, will be bad for everyone.
Consider these climate goals courtesy of the Absolute Zero goals that The WinePress routinely points out are going to plan according to schedule:
[By 2030] Growth in domestic and international rail as substitute for flights and low-occupancy car travel. [Afterwards] Further growth with expanded network and all electric trains; rail becomes dominant mode for freight as shipping declines.[By 2030] All airports except Heathrow, Glasgow and Belfast close with transfers by rail. [Afterwards] All remaining airports close.There are currently no freight ships operating without emissions, so shipping must contract [by 2030]. [Then] All shipping declines to zero [by 2050].
Material efficiency becomes prominent as material supply contracts [by 2030].
Rapid reduction in supply and use of all fossil fuels, except for oil for plastic production [by 2030]. Fossil fuels completed phased out [afterwards].
And those are not all the goals, but you get the point, and if these arbiters and are our good-for-nothing and bought and paid-for Congress gets involved; we can see where and how this would playout. Therefore, shortages and shipping will greatly be hindered as they people begin retrofit the trains and rails with all these “smart” technologies. This is similar to all the congestion at the international ports right now, because they are being refitted with new smart and “carbon-friendly” garbage, but the media does not want you to know that: “International Ports Going “Net Zero” And “Smart” Could Explain Some Of Supply Chain Shortages And Famine“
Ultimately, shortages and inflation of everything will balloon out of control in the future, whether it’s directly caused by this, or a plethora of factors; but I think anyone with a modicum amount of foresight and discretion can see what is coming down the pike.
I detailed this in great detail in my report, “Are You Awake? Are You Ready For What’s Coming? Do You Loathe The Honeycomb??” Do not get distracted: continue to prepare for and expect inflation to explode out of control coupled with massive shortages of everything.
[10] Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins. [11] Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good. [12] When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence. [13] Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place. [14] Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart. [15] Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. [16] And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them.Jeremiah 14:10-16
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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This is the end of America as we know it, but it is so just.
I just pray the church buildings get hit the hardest!
No more gluttony and waste, no more eating contests, no more obesity glorification.
I am making $162/hour telecommuting. I never imagined that it was honest to goodness yet my closest companion is earning $21 thousand a month cdc11 by working on the web, that was truly shocking for me, she prescribed me to attempt it simply ,
COPY AND OPEN THIS SITE_____________SmartJob1.com
Jeremiah 14:10-16 are reassuring for the true believers and also victims of organized religion who want the Truth and the real Jesus.
These lying wolves like Donnie Swaggart who’s a flag hugging mammon loving minister of Satan, he’s got a shock coming for him. When over half of his cult following are dead because of the death jabs and the economy explodes, famine is everywhere and anywhere, he can no longer afford his mansion or his life in the lap of luxury, he can’t sell any of his assets because of inflation, and he winds up sleeping in a homeless shelter, either that or he winds up in. The crosshairs of a street war and that’s all she wrote.
The Swaggarts’ cousin and rockstar, Jerry Lee Lewis who renewed his marriage vows with his SEVENTH WIFE got the vaccines so he’s going to be biting the dust soon!
Saw this one coming. The technocrats are the old corporatist nazis & self-righteous euthanasia-pushing elites playing God….only by the spirit of the god of this world, death & destruction to whom they are still subject. ….and a whole lot of them were into the railroads. They even used Chinese coolies in the construction out West. Those pigtails were signs of their submission to their Ming dynasty overlords even in contract to Westerners by agreement of those despots East & West. https://www.chinasage.info/chinese-coolies.htm
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Teddy Roosevelt because of his experience out West with the coolies, poor Irish immigrants, native Americans & regular working class people meeting the challenges of life on the frontier became alienated from his class & peers. For the reasons & conditions suffered by the coolies & other poor, he fought the corporate monopolists, had laws passed against racial discrimination, & Cuba was a Catholic stronghold of gambling, intrigue, & horrific working conditions called indentured servitude in order to pretend to have met the terms of the abolishment of slavery equal to Great Britain (at least those honest who didn’t find ways to skirt the Law).
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The unions were a reaction to that, but then the ride the tide of other peoples’ money (dues) temptation & consolidation of power led to their being taken by politicized mob & gangster types, Babylon. Now the unions don’t listen to the rank & file at all, but impose what’s handed down from on high & those deepest in, highest up. Few have the will, or the courage & faith, to risk all those perks & freebies to insist upon correction.
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Then they were also infiltrated & set up for self-destruction by pushing for constant & ridiculous, unsustainable demands. Luring women out of the home, promoting feminism etc made that even easier, because women are more easily deceived & schmoozed & used by smooth talkers. Just read how Adonijah used the feminine nurturing & tendency to romanticizing, not seeing the political intent & potential outcome as a man would, with Bath-sheba which is a great example. 1 Kings 2 KJB/AV.
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Railroad men were more highly paid than many, because of the government union aspect (like educators & administrators), so the jobs were coveted. They also avoided the draft during wars: needed for the home effort, it was said. My maternal grandfather was a charming man & Mason, a union railroad engineer late 1920’s through the ’60’s, retiring as the railroads were fading & trucking taking over the lion’s share of transport other than coal & certain commodities. We had no clue what that meant at the time.
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I also realize now where my father got some of his advice on winking at certain activities & not asking questions, just doing what he was told. Dad wasn’t good at keeping his mouth shut though, & though he wasn’t saved either, he had a certain sense of fairness that kept him from being ‘tapped’. Other sins got my father : – (. I still remember how he fought for unionizing in the trucking industry…..and then said they were worse & less accountable than the owners who were local & at least had to make a good show.
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And, anyways, here we are. Men still playing God, and affecting the whole world with it because they went social justice & believed a whole bunch of lies. America going down is hurting, & going to hurt, a lot more than just Americans. ….but we’re not supposed to know or talk about that. Doesn’t fit the dialectic narrative….but God sees, and he’ll judge aright in the end, all things manifested in the light, & just which Americans & otherwise are most responsible.
Well I’m Powerful sure grampa CornPop Biden will get on this issue very quickly as soon as he is finished shaking hands with ghosts and gets his daily ice cream.