More than half of freight rail workers will vote on proposed contracts next week amid a highly organized effort by some of their colleagues to urge a “no” vote.

It’s the biggest test yet of the Biden administration’s push to avert an economically crippling rail strike after it helped a dozen unions broker a compromise with freight carriers in September. A rebel group, Railroad Workers United, is stoking opposition among members who believe the compromise green-lit by union leaders doesn’t go far enough to address working conditions that have led to severe attrition at the nation’s largest carriers.

So far, seven smaller unions have voted to approve their tentative agreements, while three have voted against — one as recently as Monday.

If unions don’t get members on board by the end of an industry-wide cooling-off period Dec. 9, just one could spark a strike that capsizes the nation’s supply chain — stripping store shelves, starving livestock and compromising drinking water. At that point, Congress could be forced to step in and extend the cooling-off period, during which workers are barred from walking off the job — or impose the employer-championed recommendations of a presidentially appointed emergency board.

The presidents of the industry’s two largest unions — Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen — are criss-crossing the U.S. to buoy support for the proposed contracts before their members’ votes are tallied Monday. They say they’ve gotten them the best deal possible.

“My message is, ‘Guys, we went all the way to the championship. We never backed down,’” SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson said from his car recently on the way to yet another event in Boone, Iowa.

But the RWU’s message is resonating with burnt-out freight rail employees frustrated by what they consider employers’ punitive attendance policies, among other things, and critical of the compromises accepted by their union presidents.

RWU is “just trying to get the unions to put the full interest of the membership ahead of everything else,” said one railroad worker, who is not associated with RWU and spoke anonymously to avoid retaliation from their employer. “I can definitely see interest in their message grow significantly.”

One union official called the situation “out of control.”

As it stands, union officials are unsure of which way the rank-and-file will vote.

“It’s on a razor’s edge,” Ferguson said. “It’s going to be tight.”

Workers’ decision to strike could cause Congress to step in and lengthen the cooling-off period — or impose the employer-endorsed recommendations of a presidentially appointed emergency board.

“We’re gonna get what [workers] ratify, or we’re gonna go back and forth to Congress — and God knows what’s going to come out of this,” Ferguson said.

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That’s what I’m seeing, as well a the railroads fucking their employees as hard as they can with or without a kiss. I’m also seeing the railroads have no respect or even care for their employees. In my opinion railroad employees are just another commodity to management. This is so wrong, on so many levels.

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Meanwhile, the orange and black railroad is having nationwide manning issues working the road because so many road guys have switched to yard service.  So the RR in their infinite wisdom is throwing cash (between $15,000-$22,000 EXTRA for a few months) at guys from different terminals to work the road at those hard to fill locations.  Or they could just, you know, lighten up their attendance requirements to how it used to be.

All that borrow-out money has to completely offset any guarantee saved by cutting down extra boards in those locations.

So stupid.

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I think you RR guys are selling yourself short you all should get together nut up and tell the RR and your unions to fuck off and strike. You guys hold the power you just can't see it if they don't want to work with you then everyone should just not show up for work. As soon as the trains stop moving things would start to change and the longer, they don't move the better.

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Engineers vote to ratify
Conductors vote to reject

fuck...

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Well dang, if the RR supply chain is so important it sounds like a good argument to ensure proper staffing and maybe some of the relatively small 'asks' your labor force is seeking.

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That’s why a strike won’t work, to get everyone to not work even one day would next to impossible, although even a 24 hour strike would send a message you won’t be able to ignore.

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How’d that work out?