WASHINGTON – The Shippers Coalition is calling on Congress, the White House, railroads and union leaders to act quickly to prevent a rail strike from further damaging an already fragile supply chain.
“Our coalition members are already struggling to cope with historically poor and costly freight rail service with no relief in sight,” said Alexis Oberg, Deputy Director of the Shippers Coalition. “The nation’s supply chain is at a breaking point, and it cannot take another disruption from a rail strike. We need all parties to come together and find a solution that prevents a strike from shutting down the economy.”
The U.S. House moved urgently to head off the looming nationwide rail strike on Wednesday, passing a bill that would bind companies and workers to a proposed settlement that was reached in September but rejected by some of the 12 unions involved.
The measure passed by a vote of 290-137 and now heads to the Senate. If approved there, it will be signed by President Joe Biden, who urged the Senate to act swiftly.
The Shippers Coalition said the impact of a strike on the country’s economy would be $2 billion a day and would reverberate through all sectors to every corner of the United States.
The Shippers Coalition represents companies and trade associations in the agriculture, chemical, manufacturing and food and beverage industries, all of which would be impacted by a strike.
According to the American Chemistry Council, a member of the Shippers Coalition, a month- long strike would trigger the loss of 700,000 jobs across multiple industries, spike inflation with a four percent increase to the Producer Price Index, and pull almost $160 billion out of the economy.
“On behalf of companies throughout the U.S. dairy industry, the International Dairy Foods Association stands with other members of the Shippers Coalition in calling on Congress to step in and negotiate an agreement between rail carriers and their employees that protects our nation’s food and economic security,” said Michael Dykes, D.V.M., IDFA president and CEO. “A strike would devastate our nation’s dairy industry, which employs more than 3.3 million Americans and relies on rail carriers to move nutritious, wholesome, and perishable dairy products to destinations throughout the country and to ports for export around the world. Congress must act without delay to prevent our nation’s food supply chain from collapsing.”
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