By Charlie Elrod, Ph.D.. President & CEO, Natural Biologics, Inc. Member of the Board of Directors, Northeast Agribusiness and Feed Alliance
Once again, the country waits in anticipation as the ongoing negotiations between rail worker unions and the railroads eke their way to a finale. Whether the discussions will result in a contract or a strike is still up in the air. Earlier this week two of the larger unions, of the twelve covered in the negotiations, voted; one to approve the contract, the other to reject it. Three other smaller unions have also voted to reject the contract and are back at the negotiating table. We have all heard before how a rail strike would disrupt many aspects of our lives, especially here at the onset of winter and the holiday season. Jenny Mills recently calculated that a rail strike which reduced feed availability for dairy cattle in the Northeast could lead to about $9M in lost milk revenue per day.
While the Presidential Emergency Board framework, agreed to back in September, gave railworkers a 25% pay increase and improved flexibility in time off, there are many who believe that the quality of life issues at the core of these negotiations have not been adequately addressed. At the moment, the strike deadline is set for December 8th, though should a strike appear imminent, the railroads could lock workers out at midnight on October 5th. Even if most of the twelve unions approved the contract but a strike was called by any of them, it is likely that all union railworkers would join the strike in solidarity.
For the NEAFA members and our communities, the impacts would be substantial and felt very quickly. NEAFA member Bruce Habberfield, Special Projects Manager of the Fingerlakes Railway, suggested that one day of a strike would lead to a week of delays, with the delays increasing rapidly the longer the strike goes on. While not a union shop, the Fingerlakes Railway and others within our region, would not have work-stoppages, but depend on rail cars coming in off the main lines. At this point, they are trying to accumulate cars to help mitigate those delays for their customers who ship forty-nine different commodities through the Fingerlakes Railway. He suggests that other NEAFA members, reliant on rail transport, try to stock up in the next couple of weeks to ease some of the pressure should a rail strike ensue. The bright spot in this situation is that Congress and the President are poised to sign an emergency bill, under authority of the Railway Labor Act of 1926, to impose a contract on the railways to avoid a strike and keep the railways in operation.