It's in the news now but I wrote about it January 13th and January 23rd 2022
From this January 13th article in Trains
BNSF unions threaten strike over attendance policy (updated)
Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation union, who work for the BNSF Railway, initiated steps to go on strike following the railroad’s announcement of its so-called “Hi-Viz” attendance policy. Collectively, the unions represent more than 17,000 active members at the BNSF.
Things are going to get interesting - from this July 13th article at Railway Age:
BLET Members Vote ‘Yes’ on Nationwide Strike Authorization
Nearly 100% of Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen members have voted in support of a nationwide strike, which BLET National President Dennis R. Pierce is calling “a showing of solidarity and unity.”
The National Mediation Board (NMB) on June 14 set in motion a 90-day-maximum time clock toward a national railroad shutdown. It released BLET and 11 other rail craft unions (bargaining in two coalitions collectively representing some 115,000 rail workers) from NMB-guided mediation with most Class I freight railroads and many smaller ones, ending attempts to negotiate, voluntarily, amendments to existing wage, benefits and work rules agreements.
This triggered a “cooling off period,” which is set to expire at 12:01 a.m. EDT on July 18, 2022. At that point, self-help is available to the parties, unless President Joe Biden appoints a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) pursuant to Section 10 of the Railway Labor Act. A PEB would halt any strike or lockout by the parties, and would investigate and issue a report and recommendations concerning the dispute.
Something to remember is that in addition to all the "normal" cargo (building supplies, grain, animal feed, industrial materials) that railways transport, they also transport our oil and propane. We were going to build a large pipeline but somebody nixed that on their first day on the job. Look for fuel prices to spike even more if this goes through...
It will be interesting to see if Biden's handlers appoints a Presidential Emergency Board. We all know that they want to crash our economy so they can institute their own government. Midterm elections can not happen soon enough...
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