Risk of Possible Nationwide Rail Strike Increases as Union Rejects Labor Deal

America faces a growing risk of a crippling national freight rail strike in two weeks after rank-and-file members of the nation’s largest rail union, which represents the industry’s conductors, rejected a tentative labor deal with freight railroads, the union announced Monday.

The nation’s second-largest rail union, which represents engineers, ratified its own contract. But the failure of the conductors to ratify their own deal is another setback to efforts to avoid a crippling nationwide rail strike.

With these votes, all 12 rail unions have now completed their ratification process, with members of eight of the unions voting in favor of deals and four voting against it. The four unions that have voted no will remain on the job until at least early next month while negotiations are held to try to avoid a strike that could cause widespread disruptions in the nation’s still struggling supply chain and overall economy.

Read the source article at cbsnews.com