I had posted about this ten days ago here: Railroad strike in the offing?
Looks like it's not just a rumor. From KFYR TV in Minot, ND:
17,000 union employees for BNSF prepare to strike
A new work policy at BNSF Railway that starts Feb. 1 has prompted more than 17,000 employees to decide to go on strike over what they call “the worst attendance policy ever.”
The SMART Transportation Union released the following statement: “This unprecedented BNSF policy repudiates direct and clear contract language and, in application, will attempt to force our members to report for duty without regard for their medical condition as we struggle to come out of a pandemic,” the presidents said. “It also stands to take away any ability by our members to avoid working fatigued when they are routinely called without warning due to the complete lack of reliable train lineups, thus creating the potential for an even more unsafe railroad operation. So-called ‘forced overtime’ in an industry where safety is so critical not only repudiates our agreements, it stands to enact irreparable harm on hundreds of full-time employees whose non-workplace obligations prevent them from being at work every day of their life.”
You think we have supply-chain problems now? Things are going to get really interesting really quickly. Gay Mayor Pete is totally out of his depth with this.
Leave a comment