News in transportation

The US Senate has passed legislation, 80 to 15, to avert a nationwide Class 1 freight railroad strike that was scheduled to begin at 12:01 AM on Friday, December 9th.

The US House of Representatives today voted to approve legislation that would avoid a nationwide Class 1 Freight Railroad strike scheduled to begin on December 9th. The bill is now headed to the US Senate, where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer voiced his optimism on the bill’s prospects.

With the December 9th deadline for a US Class 1 freight railroad worker strike or operating railroads lockout rapidly approaching, and with 400 trade groups pleading for action, President Joe Biden asked Congress to pass legislation that would compel railroads and unions to adopt the new agreement.

The two remaining unions representing US Class 1 Freight Railroad workers have completed their voting on the tentative labor agreement. The results were split, increasing the possibility of a rail strike that could start in early December.

Members of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB) have rejected the labor agreement that was worked out between the railroads and the leadership of 12 different rail workers unions. The IBB represents about 300 rail employees.

FreightWaves is reporting that the Brotherhood of Maintenance Way–Employee Division will not go on strike after November 19th, opting instead to hold off any potential work stoppage action until early December.

On Saturday, members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District 19 narrowly approved the ratification of a labor agreement with US Class 1 railroads. According to the IAM, 52% of its membership voted in favor of accepting the agreement.

The Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen became the second US Class 1 freight railroad union to reject the tentative agreement, which representatives of the unions and the freight railroads had recently negotiated. Nearly 61% of the approximately 6,000 members voted against the agreement.

The third-largest freight railway workers union, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division (BMWED) of the Teamsters union, reported on Monday that 56% of its more than 11,000 workers had voted against accepting the US Class 1 freight railroads’ tentative agreement offer.

The railroads and labor organizations have reached a tentative agreement, and rank-and-file members of the various labor organizations have or are in the process of ratifying the new agreement. To date, four labor organizations have ratified their agreements, while eight are still pending.