Rail Workers Set to Now Strike Starting Monday Amid Concerns of a Feed Shortage In the West | AgWeb
Continued issues shipping feed and other products via rail are growing more severe. Feed users already report being just days away from running out of feed, and as labor negotiations continue between the railroads and unions, laborers have already voted to go on strike Monday, unless President Joe Biden intervenes.
As first reported last month, rail bottlenecks in the U.S. are not improving for those in need of grain in the West. Feed users in California and the Southwest are having issues sourcing grain, with some reporting they are paying $3 over the CBOT price to secure grain by truck. Not only are feed users on the brink of running out of grain, but there are also concerns the rail issues could grow worse during harvest this fall.
The labor negotiations, which cover 115,000 workers according to Reuters, had been in what they called a 30-day cooling off period. The White House has until Sunday, July 17, to step in and appoint a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB).
Sources in the grain industry say if President Biden doesn’t appoint the PEB, then railroad labor is authorized to strike. The decision to go on strike is already in motion, as rail labor already voted to strike on Monday in the event Biden does not appoint a PEB, Reuters reports.
cutworm,
This is a HUGE deal.
If not effectively resolved, it means catastrophic impacts to end users that run out of feed for their animals.
Ethanol plants can shut down and it's not catastrophic but animals gotta eat!
thanks for the heads up cutworm.
yes, they can have feed shipped by truck. so it may not be so much an issue of supply, but one of price.
if people producing livestock end up sending the livestock to slaughter, then this will do strange things to supply going forward. a surge of supply of meat now, then a shortage later.
this could impact every aspect of the economy if it goes on for long.
"demetia joe" better be on the ball, and think about an intervention so it does not go on too long.
there are not enough trucks to make up for all the companies that would need to keep their products moving.
Consider that rail moves a ton of freight about 500+miles. Trucks about120 miles(trucks 6 miles/ gal 20 ton / load)
https://www.aar.org/news/railroads-welcome-appointment-of-presidential-emergency-board/
maybe this board may do something productive. lets hope.
Last month, members of the Teamsters-affiliated Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen voted to authorize a strike with over 99.5 percent approval. SMART-TD’s general chairpersons have also taken the first step toward authorizing a work stoppage.
115,000 Railroad Workers Are Weighing a National Strike | Portside
The strike is Sept for sept 15th