Yeah, ten days ago I read the last story. Today, another story, again, with absolutely no real answer to the underlying reason. It is left up to speculation that this is planned and deliberate. Why? How is this information available and yet no analysis of the underlying reason? Why throw this out there then?
Stock manipulation?…
I don’t think I’ve read a single article about supply chain problems that addresses the underlying issues. All we hear is “labor shortages.”
This story and the other story ten days ago have had zero corroboration that I can find. These seem to be hysterical stories meant to gin up fear...kind of like COVID stories.
And it’s not just grain and fertilizer being affected. A trade association of ethanol producers recently complained that manifest and unit transportation delays of between 2 and 12 days have been suffered, while West Virginia coal producers have complained there aren’t enough rail cars to ship thermal or metallurgical coal at all.
BNSF, like Union Pacific, emphasized a major attributing cause to its service disruptions as being staffing shortages.
The firm’s reply to the STB stated that at the beginning of 2021, BNSF had almost 3,000 train, yard, and engine staff on furlough, but has since reduced that number to 450.
November of 2021 reporting by Freight Waves revealed that both BNSF and Union Pacific were in a fight with major labor unions over the implementation of a September Joe Biden Executive Order mandating COVID-19 vaccination for all employees.
By December, both companies had suspended the edicts after the Biden administration ran into resistance at the federal court level.
The Federal Railroad Administration lists Union Pacific and BNSF as two of the top seven Class 1 freight railroads in the nation.
However, the greater cause elucidated by the vaccine mandate wars may simply be ongoing and overarching disputes between the unions and their employers.
In January, a District Court judge prevented Union Pacific employees from striking, picketing, or conducting a “sickout” over complaints arising from the company’s COVID measures.
In late March, BNSF’s unions sought to pursue arbitration after opposing a recently implemented “Hi Viz” (high visibility) attendance policy that deploys a progressive discipline schema in response to various tiers of absences, such as weekends, holidays, or missed calls.
https://www.visiontimes.com/2022/04/16/us-rail-carriers-cut-fertilizer-shipments-union-wars.html