Wall Street expects Congress to intervene and head off a work stoppage. But if a strike happens, the big question will be for how long.
Major railroad operators have already warned that they are preparing for a possible strike and halting some services, creating network slowdowns.
More than 100,000 rail workers, their unions and some of the nation’s largest railroad operators are staring down a 12:01 a.m. Friday deadline to agree to new work terms. Berkshire Hathaway’s BRK.B, -3.54% BRK.A, -3.32% BNSF Railway said that the situation remains “fluid” and that it would update customers as information becomes available.
That responsibility would fall on trucks, though, as space on trailers is starting to open up after more than two years of pandemic-fueled snags, but as the industry struggles to attract and retain drivers. Railroads are likely to try to force congressional intervention, analysts at JP Morgan said in a recent note.
In July, President Joe Biden intervened to avert a strike, naming a panel of arbitrators to mediate the contract disputes. The panel last month issued a 124-page report recommending a 24% pay increase and bonuses through 2024, along with back pay through much of 2020. “Penalizing engineers and conductors for getting sick or going to a doctor’s visit with termination must be stopped as part of this contract settlement,” leaders of the two unions said in a statement Sunday.
Any strong-arming from Washington today would come as midterm elections loom and as the Biden administration and other Democrats try to support unionization efforts elsewhere, at companies such as Starbucks Corp. SBUX, -1.38% and Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, -7.06%.
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