* Nationwide, freight railroad workers ready a Friday strike, the New York Times reports…

The industry failed to reach a contract agreement with two unions representing much of the work force, and a federally mandated 30-day “cooling off” period ends on Friday, opening a door to strikes and lockouts. Some freight companies have started to limit services, and Amtrak, which carries many travelers on lines operated by freight railroads, said it would cancel some passenger service starting on Tuesday. […]

Most of the unions agreed to the proposal, pending a vote of their membership. But two major unions are holding out for improvements to working conditions, which they say have steadily worsened in recent years as rail carriers have cut staffing.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the SMART Transportation Division, which represent engineers and conductors, say workers must often stay on call for several days at a time, working 12-hour shifts with little notice, and are penalized for calling in sick.

Together, the two unions represent nearly half the 115,000 freight rail workers covered by the negotiations. While the unions have not committed to striking on Friday, a walkout remains an option, a spokesman said, noting that more than 99 percent of participating members of the locomotive engineers union voted in July to authorize a strike.

* Bloomberg…

Texas has the most miles of railroad tracks of any state but Illinois — and Chicago, in particular — has been the most important hub of US intermodal commerce for more than a century. According to the Association of American Railroads, 25% of all US freight rail traffic and 46% of all intermodal traffic starts, stops or passes through the Chicago region.

While 10 of 12 railroad workers’ unions have struck new labor deals, the two holdouts — the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the International Association of Sheet Metal Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers — account for more than 90,000 rail employees. […]

The timing isn’t good for the trains to stop running. Harvest season across the farm belt is approaching, retailers are stocking up for the year-end holidays, and the economy already faces a stretch of weaker growth and high inflation.

The most immediate concern in the event of a rail strike would be for perishable goods. The American Bakers Association said “even a temporary interruption would create a devastating ripple effect” that would create a shortage of materials and ingredients.

* Chicago Tribune…

Amtrak is canceling trips on some long-distance routes out of Chicago, as the deadline for a possible strike by freight rail workers looms.

Beginning Tuesday, the passenger rail agency is suspending service on routes between Chicago and San Francisco, the Pacific Northwest and Los Angeles. Service will also be suspended along part of a fourth route out of Chicago, between Los Angeles and San Antonio, Amtrak said. […]

The cancellations are intended to avoid possible disruptions should freight railroad workers walk out on strike while lengthy trips are underway on the California Zephyr, Empire Builder, Southwest Chief and Texas Eagle routes. Though Amtrak workers are not involved in the ongoing contract negotiations, nearly all of the passenger service’s routes outside the Northeast U.S. run on track that is owned, maintained and dispatched by freight railroads, and a walkout could disrupt passenger service. […]

Federal law bars a freight railroad strike or lockout before Friday, and Congress could intervene and block a work stoppage if the unions and railroads can’t reach a deal by the end of the week.

* Metra lines stand to be affected. CBS Chicago…

Jermont Terry reported Monday night, service on nine different Metra lines in the Chicago area could also come to a halt if the strike happens. The tracks on the Metra lines are owned by freight railroad companies – and if the rail unions choose to stop operating the trains, nothing will move on the railroads. That goes for passenger and freight trains alike. […]

The BNSF, Union Pacific North, Union Pacific Northwest, and Union Pacific West Metra lines are on tracks owned and directly operated by refight rain companies. Five others intersect with tracks owned by freight partners are dispatched by freight railroads.

The only lines Metra owns, operates, and controls – and that thus would be certain to keep running – are the Metra Electric and Rock Island lines. […]

At issue is the fact that the two key unions representing conductors and engineers have yet to reach a deal. They want better pay, and a better quality of life.

* Freight train workers in Galesburg rallied for better quality of life in July. WQAD…

Representatives from over a dozen unions were at the rally, including Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division Local Vice President Nick Allen.

“We’re just looking for a fair contract for ourselves and our families, looking for the pay raises that we haven’t received since our contract ended in 2020,” Allen said. “We’re just looking to be able to continue to support our families and for what they have to go through for us working on the railroad.”

Workers said companies are also trying to reduce crew members on a train down from two to one, a move they claimed is a safety issue. […]

“We’ve had disasters in Canada, blowing up whole towns with a one-man crew operation,” SMART-TD Illinois Alternate Legislative Director Jordan Boone said. “We run through this town, and we need to be able to get a guy on the ground as soon as possible. And if there’s only one person up there, they can’t get off that motor.”

* SMART-TD and BLET’s joint statement…

The railroads are using shippers, consumers, and the supply chain of our nation as pawns in an effort to get our Unions to cave into their contract demands knowing that our members would never accept them. Our Unions will not cave into these scare tactics, and Congress must not cave into what can only be described as corporate terrorism.

Rather than gridlock the supply chain by denying shipments and potentially locking our members out next Friday, the railroads should work towards a fair settlement that our members, their employees, would ratify. For that to happen, we must make improvements to the working conditions that have been on the bargaining table since negotiations began. 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. Let us repeat that, our members are being terminated for getting sick or for attending routine medical visits as we crawl our way out of a worldwide pandemic.

No working-class American should be treated with this level of harassment in the workplace for simply becoming ill or going to a routine medical visit. Sadly, the Presidential Emergency Board recommendation got it wrong on this issue. As we have said from the day that they were implemented, these policies are destroying the lives of our members, who are the backbone of the railroad industry.

These employment policies have forced thousands of employees out of the industry and make it all but impossible to recruit new workers. With understaffed operations, these railroads abuse their best customers by refusing to provide deliveries consistent with their legal obligations. These self-appointed titans of industry complain constantly about government regulation and interference — except now when it comes to breaking the backs of their employees. It’s time for the federal government to tell the CEO’s who are running the nation’s railroads into the ground that enough is enough. Congress should stay out of the rail dispute and tell the railroads to do what other business leaders do — sit down and bargain a contract that your employees will accept.

* Politico…

While a strike could happen starting Friday, people close to the negotiations tell POLITICO they’re not expecting it — at least not that soon.

“There is this narrative being developed that a work stoppage is inevitable and unions are chomping at the bit,” said a person familiar with the conversations, but not authorized to speak to the press. “My view is that a strike is unlikely, and that the likeliest scenarios are, one, that they reach an 11th hour or 11th hour and 59 minute deal. The second likeliest scenario is they extend the cooling off period so that they can have more time to cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s.”