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Economy
Amtrak cancels ALL long-distance trains (except those along the Northern Corridor) ahead of looming rail strike ‐ affecting as many as 87,000 customers each day
2022-09-15
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Amtrak, the nation's cross-country railway system, is canceling all of its long-distance trains ahead of a planned freight workers' strike

  • Unions representing engineers and conductors are set to go on strike Friday if they do not get more quality-of-life provisions in their contracts

  • The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers also announced on Wednesday that its 4,900 members voted to reject a deal its leaders reached with freight railroad companies

  • A strike would effectively shut down the country's freight train industry

  • Doing so would cost the country an estimated $2 billion a day and send inflation soaring

  • The Biden administration is now scrambling to get the unions to accept a deal
Posted by:Skidmark

#8  A 24% increase across 4 years is less than 5% per year. Official inflation in 2022 is 8% currently. So for 2022 that's an order to take a 3% wage cut minimum. That compounds for the next 4 years - even if inflation gets no worse.

Money isn't a substitute for (some minimum) predictable days off. It's a safety and morale issue. Morale is important because if you have someone in a safety sensitive job with an attitude towards management you have an accident waiting to happen. Corners get cut - things break - people die. Period.

If the workers "have" to show up I would not be surprised to see a lot of sick outs and work to rule that won't be covered by the MSM but will be reflected in the on time delivery of product - at a minimum.

Posted by: Ebbish Spolurong4209   2022-09-15 14:57  

#7  Why America will never have a European passenger model rail system.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2022-09-15 11:58  

#6  From talking to my contacts here they weren't after more money but a more normal schedule and days off. Do you have to go to a funeral or wedding? Sorry, you didn't schedule that 3 months ago. Supposed to go home after your last trip? Sorry, we changed it to you go 150 miles away and sit in a motel for a day and night.
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2022-09-15 09:27  

#5  He didn't hand out anything. He ordered both sides to accept the deal on the table. The rail operators will pass the costs on to the customers.

That would be you.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2022-09-15 09:07  

#4  Biden CAVES to rail unions to avoid catastrophic strike and hands out immediate $11K bonus and a 24% wage increase - amid fears industrial action would have cost economy $2B per day
Posted by: Skidmark   2022-09-15 09:03  

#3  Rail strike averted, tentative agreement reached
Posted by: Skidmark   2022-09-15 09:01  

#2  Most of Europe has a very good rail system. Perhaps they should be running ours.
Posted by: Besoeker   2022-09-15 08:43  

#1  Amtrak barely makes 87,600 passengers a day traveling across 40+ states (2019) and less than 43,000 during Convid-19 (2020).

While the NYC Subway ust yesterday had 3,619,401+/- passengers and on the same day its Metro-North Railroad had 180,200 +/-.

Heck, even during Convid-19 in 2020 the NYC Subway still averaged 2,040,580+/- riders a day.

Amtrak has been a joke for years.
But that did not stop Congress from dumping another $66 Billion in to it last year alone.
Posted by: NN2N1   2022-09-15 07:31  

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