Labor unions and organizers feel more empowered by the tight labor market, capitalizing on worker shortages to gain new ground at big companies despite an overall decline in union membership. Major unions representing rail workers are threatening to strike if rail companies do not agree to their demands for better working conditions by midnight on Friday. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File/AP Newsroom) The most immediate threat could be just a day away. Major unions representing rail workers are threatening to strike if rail companies do not agree to their demands for better working conditions by midnight on Friday. According to the Association of American Railroads (AAR), a shutdown would be absolutely devastating to the economy, costing about $2 billion a day and bringing an already fragile supply chain to its knees, while hurting businesses and consumers alike. RAIL UNION VOTE TO AUTHORIZE STRIKE THAT COULD BREAK THE ECONOMY Whether a rail shutdown happens or not, another union battle is brewing that could also seriously affect the economy. The Teamsters have already begun hitting United Parcel Service with strike threats ahead of contract negotiations scheduled for next year. The Teamsters union that represents UPS employees has threatened to strike next year if the shipping giant doesn’t agree to new contract terms. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images) “Our union is determined to win the best contract for UPS members and restore the standards for wages and benefits in this industry by August 1, 2023. We will not extend negotiations a single day. We will either have a signed agreement that day or hit the pavement,” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said in a statement kicking off the union’s contract fight last month. HOW FORCED UNIONIZATION HURTED STATES DURING COVID If workers at the world’s largest package delivery company walk off the job, it would be the largest strike in American history and affect nearly every household in the US, according to a CBS News report. Neither railroad workers nor UPS drivers have gone on strike since the 1990s. But both are now flexing their muscles in the tight post-COVID-19 labor market with the support of the Biden administration. The labor agreements have been blamed for contributing to the disastrous blockades that took place at several US ports last year. (Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images) Several experts warned last year that an increase in union strikes, regulations and agreements would likely worsen the supply chain crisis as the large labor force tries to take advantage of ongoing worker shortages. At the time, the labor agreements were blamed for contributing to the disastrous blockages that occurred at many US ports. GET THE FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE “The union officials are going to be more aggressive because the National Labor Relations Board is under control, the Labor Department is under control, the Justice Department is under control, and you have a president — when he gets back to the docks — who probably won’t exercise executive power and it will not implement Taft-Hartley,” Mark Mix, president of National Right to Work, told FOX Business. “So I think they’re encouraging union officials.”
