Trying to keep the steel wheels oiled and moving
Nov 04, 2022
WASHINGTON, DC – Over the past week, USA Rice joined hundreds of other agriculture and business-focused organizations urging the Biden Administration and Congress to step in and find a resolution to avoid a potential rail labor strike or lockout.
So far, four of the 12 rail labor unions have voted to ratify the National Tentative Agreement reached on September 15, 2022. Two unions have voted against ratification while votes are still outstanding from four additional unions.
A rail labor strike could occur as early as November 19. However, products could begin to be embargoed as early as next week, and shipments of agricultural products and inputs could be embargoed beginning on November 14.
In an October 27, 2022, letter to President Joe Biden, more than 300 organizations, including USA Rice, thanked the President and his Administration for leading on this issue by establishing the Presidential Emergency Board to help facilitate negotiations between the unions and railroads, while asking for intervention by the Administration.
“It is paramount that these contracts now be ratified, as a rail shutdown would have a significant impact on the U.S. economy and lead to further inflationary pressure,” said the groups in the letter to President Biden.
USA Rice stays engaged in all things transportation through membership in the Agriculture Transportation Working Group (ATWG) and the Ag Transportation Coalition. On November 3, USA Rice joined a letter by the ATWG, urging Congressional leaders to take “swift action to avert a rail strike or lockout that would lead to shutdowns or slowdowns of rail-dependent facilities resulting in devastating consequences to our national and global food security.”
The ATWG letter continues: “A strike or lockout combined with existing challenges in the rail system, at our ports, with trucking and with record low water levels on the Mississippi River impacting numerous barge shipments would be catastrophic for the agricultural and broader U.S. economies. Congress must act to prevent this from occurring if the parties cannot reach agreement.”
USA Rice continues to work to educate legislators on rail and other transportation and supply chain issues and the negative impacts a potential rail strike or lockout could have on the U.S. rice industry.