Officials said that if there is a national rail strike this month, Alaska Railroad will continue to move, but that tie-ups within the Lower 48 could cause cargo delays from Alaska arriving from Seattle or Tacoma.
After the collapse of negotiations between the largest railroads in the country and several unions, a strike could be called by some unions.
Personal and health leave are the biggest issues. Unions claim that workers have been made to work hard by short-staffing policies and policies that prevent them from taking time off to deal with personal health issues.
President Joe Biden reached a compromise agreement to avoid a September strike. However, workers from four of the 12 unions that were involved in the negotiations rejected the proposal. These four unions make up the majority workers across all 12 groups.
Biden urges Congress to pass legislation to force rail workers and railroad companies to agree to a strike-averting agreement.
Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) stated Tuesday that she would not vote against the legislation as it stands.
In an interview with NBC News, she stated that “I don’t believe it’s fair or right to expect workers sick as a canine to go to work sick”
According to the Federal Railroad Administration’s pre-pandemic figures , 28% of America’s freight is carried by railroads. Although most Christmas gifts are on shelves already, disruptions in freight traffic could cause shortages.
Peltola was asked if a strike could cause severe economic damage to the country’s economy. She replied, “I think it could also cause catastrophic damage the nation’s economy” if we expect a whole section of employees to take sick leave.
The two U.S. senators from Alaska have not yet taken a public position regarding the strike-averting legislation.
68% of Alaska’s employees are unionized. However, these unions are not part of the current labor battle, according to Christy Terry, the railroad director of external affairs.
She stated in an email that “The strike won’t affect our service within Alaska.”
She stated that the only effect of the strike will be on railcars from the Lower 48, which are then interchangeable to Seattle.
Although the Alaska Railroad doesn’t have a direct connection to the Lower 48 it does run a rail-marine barge that transports railcars from Seattle and Whittier.
Terry stated that the barge was responsible for 8.7% of all railroad cars in 2021. However, the service carries only heavy industrial goods and not items for sale.
Yes, there would be some impact if there were a disruption in service, but only on commercial goods. She said that those would include construction, mining, oilfields, and so on.
She said with others that Alaska would likely experience disruption if there is a strike on rails. This is the area where goods are loaded onto ships or barges heading for Anchorage, the Port of Alaska or other smaller facilities along the coast, such as Kodiak, Unalaska, Southeast Alaska, and Kodiak.
Matson’s government and community relations manager Dylan Faber handles regular shipping to Alaska. He stated that there are no plans for changing the shipping schedule.
Jim Jager, Port of Alaska director of external relations, stated that “And I haven’t seen any hiccups on the schedule that indicate that they would have any impact.” “The problem is: Will the goods reach Tacoma?”
The Northwest Seaport Alliance, which is the combined port authority of Seattle and Tacoma and provides rail service that carries more cargo than half of what’s imported inland through these ports, stated Melanie Stambaugh (communication director).
She stated in an email that a rail service disruption would likely result in cargo containers remaining at marine terminals for longer times. “Marine Terminal capacity can be limited, and large numbers of containers can slow down the speed at which vessels can unload/load.”
This could cause disruption to outbound Alaskan shipping, but it’s not possible to predict how severe.
Stambaugh stated that during the COVID-19 pandemic the port authority established “near dock container yards” to handle the surge cargo capacity. These yards may provide some relief in the case of a rail strike.
She also stated that “many of the products that travel north to Alaska are sourced from Puget Sound and should not be affected by rail.”
The Alaska Beacon originally published this story. It is republished with permission.
