National Railroad Strike Looms: What It Means In Washington

SEATTLE — Without a deal reached by Thursday night, 115,000 freight railroad workers will go on strike Friday, interrupting commercial and commuter trips across a wide swath of the nation's rail corridors.

The looming strike is likely to halt Amtrak routes in Washington, which largely run on tracks owned by BNSF, and industry analysts warn a walkout will re-tangle supply chains and deal a crippling blow to the U.S. economy.

A tentative agreement was rejected Wednesday by one of the railroad unions yet to strike a deal with negotiators as the first national railroad strike in 30 years becomes closer to reality, The Wall Street Journal reported. Unions are seeking better pay, improved paid and sick leave policies, and more predictable scheduling practices.

Washington residents who planned cross-country trips by Amtrak already may already be feeling the effects of the dispute between the nation’s major railroads and their unions. Amtrak has canceled service on a number of routes, including the Coast Starlight (Seattle-Los Angeles) and Empire Builder (Seattle-Chicago), Reuters reported.

The passenger railway company said routes between Boston, New York and Washington, D.C., will see “no impact,” and only minimal changes are expected elsewhere in the Northeast.

According to The Seattle Times, the Pacific Northwest's Cascades line will also shut down if the strike occurs, and passengers could be shifted to buses as early as Thursday. Cascades trains run between Eugene, Oregon, and Seattle, and later this month were scheduled to resume service north to Vancouver, British Columbia.

"The train tracks on which Amtrak Cascades trains run in Washington and Oregon are primarily owned by BNSF Railway and Union Pacific," the Washington State Department of Transportation wrote Wednesday. "These railroad companies control all train movements in this region and therefore the potential strike of their workers will affect Amtrak Cascades trains. Our trains cannot operate without the BNSF and Union Pacific dispatchers."

Sound Transit confirmed it would halt all Sounder commuter service between Everett, Seattle and Lakewood on Friday until railroad workers return.

Other regional commuter rail systems could be affected as well, including Chicago’s Metra, Virginia Railway Express and the Maryland Area Regional Commuter Train Service, The Washington Post reported. Those systems lease tracks owned by the freight lines.

A labor walkout would shut down 30 percent of the nation’s freight and also “halt most passenger and commuter rail services,” the freight industry has warned. Freight railroads have already taken steps to ensure that sensitive and hazardous materials, including chlorine for drinking water, don’t get held up mid-journey.

The Association of American Railroads trade group put out a report last week estimating that shutting down the railroads would cost the economy $2 billion a day cost to the economy.

President Joe Biden blocked a strike by the 115,000 railroad workers through executive action in July, imposing a 60-day “cooling off” period that expires at 12:01 a.m. EDT.

The White House said Tuesday that Secretary of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his agency are working to lessen the effects of a strike on critical resources, including food drinking water and electricity. Politico reported that at least two Cabinet secretaries and Biden are directly involved in efforts to avert a national railroad strike and have spoken with negotiators on both sides of the labor dispute.

The coalition negotiating on behalf of the nation's biggest freight railroads — including Union Pacific, CSX, Norfolk Southern, BNSF and Kansas City Southern — has reached most of the tentative agreements needed to avoid a strike, but high hurdles remain.

Negotiators are at loggerheads on scheduling and sick time policies that conductors and engineers say keep them “on call” even on days they’re not scheduled to work, issues the White House’s Presidential Emergency Board said are best resolved through grievance and arbitration processes.

“The primary resistance comes from Union Pacific and BNSF because of the attendance policies they have adopted which have treated workers so poorly,” Dennis Pierce, the president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, told CNBC. “We’re just looking for time away from work to address our medical issues. Union Pacific and BNSF attendance policies are assessing (penalty) points to our members when they just want to take time off for their regular medical appointments.”

Congress could still step in to prevent a strike, which U.S. Chamber of Commerce Secretary Suzanne Clark said Monday would be an “economic disaster, freezing the flow of goods, emptying shelves, shuttering workplaces and raising prices for families and businesses alike.”

The chamber joined a growing coalition of business groups, including 31 agricultural shipping trade groups, sending letters to Congress urging lawmakers to step in and block the strike if the two sides can’t reach agreement by Friday’s deadline.

The possibility of congressional intervention is a slippery slope, especially for Democrats counting on support and votes from union allies in the November midterms.

“The president is bragging about how much influence he has with unions and how much influence they have with him,” Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell told reporters Tuesday.

However, Democrats favor waiting to see if the railroads and unions reach an agreement.

“Let’s wait a few days and see if there’s an agreement that’s reached,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, told reporters.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.