Union’s membership rejects tentative agreement as US rail worker strike nears

HOUSTON (ICIS)–The membership of one of the unions that had previously reached a tentative agreement with the US freight railroads on a new labour contract voted to reject the offer and authorised a strike just ahead of Friday’s deadline.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District 19 has about 4,900 members.

The IAM said it has agreed to extend the deadline before it would strike until 29 September “out of respect for other unions in the ratification process”.

The IAM is one of 12 unions that have been negotiating with the National Carriers Conference Committee (NCCC), a part of the National Railway Labor Conference (NRLC), which is representing the nation’s freight railroads in the negotiations.

The negotiators are trying to beat a Friday deadline imposed through the Railway Labor Act, which substitutes bargaining, arbitration and mediation for strikes to resolve labour disputes.

US President Joe Biden appointed a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) in mid-July, which opened a 30-day window to convene, hold hearings and issue a report in mid-August that includes settlement recommendations.

When the PEB published its report in August, it recommended significant increases to pay and benefits, setting up a framework for continued negotiations during a 30-day “cooling off period”, which ends on 16 September.

The two largest unions, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers – Transportation Division (SMART-TD), which represent about 90,000 members, are holding out for better quality of life issues.

US DEPARTMENT OF LABOR GETS INVOLVED
US Secretary of Labor Martin J Walsh hosted discussions with the two sides on Wednesday in Washington, DC, in hopes of getting a deal done.

“Secretary Walsh continues to lead discussions at the Department of Labor (DOL) between the rail companies and unions,” a DOL spokesperson said on Wednesday. “The parties are negotiating in good faith and have committed to staying at the table today.”

US Representative Steny Hoyer told Bloomberg in a podcast on 12 September that Congress could get involved if no agreement is reached by the deadline.

A rail strike would have a negative impact on the chemicals industry and create additional headwinds to supply chains that have been struggling to move products since early in the pandemic.

In 2021, freight railroads moved 2.2m carloads of plastics, fertilizers and other chemicals.

The highest-volume chemical carried by US railroads is ethanol.

More than half of all rail chemical carloads consist of various industrial chemicals, including soda ash, caustic soda, urea, sulphuric acid and anhydrous ammonia.

Plastic materials and synthetic resins account for close to a quarter of rail chemical carloads.

Most of the rest is agricultural chemicals.

In the US, chemical railcar loadings represent about 20% of chemical transportation by tonnage, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest.

In Canada, producers rely on rail to ship more than 70% of their products, with some exclusively using rail.