Sept. 11 (UPI) — A new report says that a looming rail strike involving tens of thousands of workers next week would cost the U.S. economy about $2 billion per day and idle thousands of trains nationwide.
A deadline to come up with an agreement between U.S. railroads and the unions that make up the Coordinated Bargaining Coalition will arrive in a week. The coalition represents more than 100,000 rail workers and rail freight in the United States would cease if they strike.
According to a report Thursday by the Association of American Railroads, such a strike would cost $2 billion a day and shut down thousands of trains across a 140,000-mile network that runs through 49 states. A mandatory cooling off period ends on September 16, after which the unions will be allowed to strike.
Negotiators were scheduled to meet on Friday in a bid to avert the strike and work toward a new collective bargaining agreement. U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh met with rail carriers and the unions on Wednesday to try and facilitate a deal.
The National Carriers Conference Committee represents management at over 30 railroads and the Coordinated Bargaining Coalition is made up of a dozen rail labor unions. Five of them — smaller unions representing 21,000 workers — have reached agreements with the railroads.
