A Possible Railroad Strike During the Holiday Season Would Risk $2 Billion Per Day

A threatened railroad worker strike that appeared to have been derailed by the Biden administration is now back on track and chugging quickly toward the holiday season.

Four of the 12 unions representing workers on America’s freight rail lines have voted to reject a new contract proposed by a special presidential mediation board, once again raising the possibility of an economy-crippling strike next month. The unions that rejected the deal are now indicating that they want additional concessions from the railroads beyond what was negotiated by the Biden administration during the summer, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Those last-second negotiations by the Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) seemed to have averted a threatened strike. Though the details of the proposed contract were not made public, the unions reportedly scored several of their top priorities, including graduated pay increases of 24 percent that will be doled out over several years and five annual payments of $1,000 to all union members (a major carrot to get workers to approve the new deal). However, the unions did not receive paid sick leave—which the Biden administration opposed for being “very costly.”

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The unions have asked for 15 paid sick days per year, but the railroads settled on giving one additional personal day on top of existing vacation allowances, Reuters reports. A potential shutdown—the result of either a strike or a lockout—could cost the U.S. economy as much as $2 billion per day, according to the news agency. – READ MORE