NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Companies in Tennessee that depend on trains could start to experience big delays this week. Some 90,000 rail workers are preparing to strike nationwide.
"What the industry seems to report is the unions are very concerned about how workers are called in, on what basis they can be called to work and they want to have more flexibility about time off, family concerns — the kind of thing I think all of us can identify with," said Andy Borchers, a Lipscomb University business professor, who is a supply chain expert.
He said a strike would be problematic because trains best transport certain materials like rock, coal, oil and chemicals.
With thousands of union rail workers looking ready to walk out, freight companies like CSX are strategically planning where trains are parked this week. Borchers said leaving these cars unattended in certain areas can be dangerous.
"It's a big deal in the rail yards and the immediate areas around those yards because if there was an explosion or something it could be very hazardous to people in the immediate area around a rail yard," Borchers said.
CSX issued a stoppage today on all hazardous, toxic and poisonous materials.
A rail strike is about the last thing the economy needs after years of supply chain issues," Borchers said.
"We had a risk of west coast dock workers strike that got averted, but now we have the railroad workers that potentially could come to bear. Trucks can partly handle the load, although the trucking industry has come out and said we can't do it all. There will be a variety of products that will be affected and we may not know for sure exactly which ones those are until the breakdown happens," he said.
There are 12 railroad labor unions. The two largest have been asking railroad carriers since 2020 for better attendance, vacation and sick day policies.
