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Oct. 26 (UPI) -- The threat of a crippling nationwide freight rail strike next month gathered speed Wednesday after a second railroad union rejected a tentative labor agreement. The Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, which represents more than 6,000 workers who install and repair signal systems, voted down the proposed four-year deal, brokered by the Biden administration last month, with 60.5% against the agreement and 39.2% voting for it. "For the first time that I can remember, the BRS members voted not to ratify a National Agreement, and with the highest participation rate in BRS history," Michael Baldwin, president of the...

Slump in imports, cargo diversions to other ports help shrink queue of dozens of vessels The backup of container ships off Southern California’s coast that was at the heart of U.S. supply chain congestion during the Covid-19 pandemic has effectively disappeared. The queue of ships waiting to unload at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach fell from a peak of 109 ships in January to four vessels this week ... . U.S. import volumes are declining ... The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach together handled 686,133 loaded import containers in September, down 18% from a year...

A union representing nearly 12,000 railroad workers on Monday voted down the tentative contract agreement between freight railroad companies and all 12 of their unions brokered by the White House last month. Why it matters: The rejection, by the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division of the Teamsters (BMWED), raises the prospect once again of a nationwide rail strike.

The world’s largest package delivery company and the union representing tens of thousands of its employees are entering a critical countdown towards the expiration of the current union contract in 2023. Workers at UPS are demanding better wages and workplace protections, following a summer of demands for better equipment against heat-related death and illness inside the ubiquitous brown trucks. But union organisers and labour leaders are also preparing for the possibility of a strike, which could be the largest ever against a single company in the US. Roughly 350,000 members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Union work as drivers...

The White House came close this week to facing yet another crisis, this time over a railroad dispute that could have taken a crowbar to the U.S. economy ahead of crucial midterm elections. But in the end, a tentative deal was struck, with both sides crediting the Biden administration with stepping in to help avert a strike that was set to begin on Friday — one that could have further disrupted the nation’s fragile supply chain. Administration officials became involved in the talks weeks ago, lobbying both sides around the clock to argue the stakes were too high for a...

New big rigs and other trucks will have to be zero-emissions in 2040 — ending their decades-long reliance on high-polluting diesel — under a proposed regulation unveiled by the California Air Resources Board. Under the proposal, manufacturers couldn’t sell new medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks fueled by diesel or gasoline that operate in California, instead turning to electric models. In addition, large trucking companies would have to gradually convert their existing fleets to zero-emission vehicles, buying more over time until all are zero emissions by 2042.

Article Excerpt:SNIP___"ENERGYA strike could have a significant impact on the energy industry, and could hurt consumers who would likely end up paying more for gasoline, electricity and natural gas. Refineries might have to halt production if they can’t get the deliveries they need, or if they don’t have access to rail to ship gasoline.No one wants to risk leaving flammable chemicals stranded on the railroad tracks if a strike occurs. That’s why railroads began curtailing shipments of hazardous materials on Monday to protect that dangerous cargo.Roughly 300,000 barrels of crude oil move by rail each day, which could supply about...

Federally mandated cooling-off period ends Friday, opening possibility of nationwide strike or lockoutA national railroad strike could derail critical deliveries of chlorine to wastewater treatment plants and coal to utility plants, among other potentially crippling disruptions, prompting senior White House aides on Tuesday to review contingency options for protecting the nation’s drinking water and energy supply.White House aides are looking at how to ensure essential products carried by rail — such as food, energy and key health products — could still reach their destinations, even in the event of a strike. Senior officials have looked at how highways, ports and...

Imports of Russian goods by Mexico saw a substantial annual increase of more than 20% during the first six months of the current year, according to the latest figures released by the Bank of Mexico. In monetary terms, Mexican imports from Russia amounted to $1.193 billion. In June alone, purchases of Russian goods by the North American nation exceeded $275 million – the second-highest figure in Mexico’s history. In May 2021, the country bought Russian goods worth $283.9 million, reports RT. In 2021, trade turnover between the two countries reached a record high, exceeding $4.5 billion. The US remains Mexico’s...

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, the executive vice president of UPS asserted that “regionalization” of the supply chain is critical to economic stability in a world where geopolitical conflicts continue expanding. The word “regionalization” is basically another way to describe decentralization, a concept which the UPS representative obviously did not want to dive into. Almost every trade expert and industry insider admits that supply chain problems are going to persist into the foreseeable future, and some are starting to also admit (in a roundabout way) that localized production and trade models are the key to economic survival. Think globally,...

Someone with a sharp mind and the capacity to do a lot of research spent time putting some numbers together: 1 Train has 100 cars, 2 engines and weighs 27,240,000 LBS 1 Train carries 3,000,000 gallons of oil. 1 train uses 55.5 gallons of diesel per mile. It takes 119,000 gallons of diesel to go 2150 miles from Hardidsy, AB to Freeport, TX. Keystone pipeline was to deliver 34,860,000 gallons of oil per day. It would take 12 trains and 1,428,000 gallons of diesel to deliver that amount. PER DAY! 521,220,000 gallons of diesel per year. The oil will still...

153 ships stuck in queues off North American ports, up 66% from early June.. ... North American port congestion has just re-entered record territory. The offshore traffic jam is once again as bad as it’s ever been. In January and February, when North American congestion previously peaked, there were just under 150 container vessels waiting off the coastlines. Two-thirds were in the Los Angeles/Long Beach queue. As of Thursday morning, there were 153, the majority off East and Gulf Coast ports. Whereas the earlier West Coast pileup was centralized, highly publicized and relatively easy to track, today’s ship queue is...

The Oakland International Container Terminal (OICT) management closed operations on Wednesday at the Port of Oakland due to the independent trucker protests over California’s gig worker law, known as AB5. The Port’s other three marine terminals are effectively shut down for trucks as well, the Port of Oakland told CNBC, while there are some vessel labor operations underway. This is the third-day truckers have protested California’s gig worker labor law, which was sparked by the rise of gig economy platforms like Uber, Lyft and DoorDash. A two-year legal stay was recently lifted when the Supreme Court decided not to hear...

Truck drivers choked traffic at the Oakland, California, seaport on Monday protesting a state law that makes it harder for independent contractors to transport goods and could limit labor at the state's already clogged seaports, threatening to worsen the nation's pandemic-fueled supply chain jams. California's ports handle about 40% of container goods that enter the United States. Trucking disruptions come at a time when unions and West Coast port employers are also negotiating a high-stakes labor contract. The law, known as AB5, or the "gig worker" law, sets tougher standards for classifying workers as independent contractors. Independent truckers who now...

Railroad freight traffic across the United States could come to a screeching halt July 18 if progress isn’t made on a labor contract between national rail carriers and their unions. Union officials stressed they do not want to go on strike, but argued they are being forced to consider the option in a bid to get better benefits, wages and staffing. The unions have worked without a contract since July 1, 2019. The two sides were forced into a 30-day “cooling off period” after failing to reach an agreement working through the National Mediation Board. The cooling off period prevents...

The US Supreme Court on June 28 declined to review a challenge by truck drivers to California’s controversial labor law AB5, meaning that it now goes into effect. The decision will throw up to 70,000 California truckers into legal limbo and further pressure the already-stressed supply chain.AB5 is a labor classification law that was designed to force gig-economy companies like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash to classify workers as employees, instead of as independent contractors, meaning they’d be eligible for benefits. Of course, lobbyists from those tech giants managed to get their companies exempted.RedState has reported extensively on AB5 in the...

Anchorages continue to fill with waiting container ships off East and Gulf Coast ports, where vessel queues have now far outgrown those off the West Coast. Along all three coasts combined, the number of waiting container vessels remains exceptionally high.There were 125 container ships waiting off North American ports on Friday morning, according to an analysis of ship-tracking data from MarineTraffic and queue numbers from California.Container ship pileup offshore of Savannah, Friday 8 a.m. Map: MarineTrafficThat’s down 16% from 150 waiting ships in January, when West Coast congestion peaked, but up 36% from 92 ships a month ago.The ship queue...

A Supreme Court decision may force over 70,000 truck owner-operators in California to stop driving, creating another choke point in the already stressed West Coast logistics networks. The AB5 law restricts the use of independent contractors and will soon be enforced against the trucking industry after the court declined to hear their appeal. The California Trucking Association said in a statement that gasoline has been poured on the fire that is the ongoing supply chain crisis, and the decision by the Supreme Court could deny a judicial review of a lower court ruling. In an end-of-term orders list released in...

Hey, I thought Mayor Pete Buttigieg, the US Transportation Secretary, was supposed to unclog the supply-chain crisis! Instead, we get heartaches on heartaches as diesel prices rise 118% under Biden AND now the bottle-necks may get a lot worse. A US Supreme Court decision that could force California’s 70,000 truck owner-operators to stop driving is set to create another choke point in already-stressed West Coast logistics networks, a truckers’ organization said. “Gasoline has been poured on the fire that is our ongoing supply-chain crisis,” the California Trucking Association said in a statement following the Supreme Court’s decision to deny a...

Joe Biden’s disastrous oil and gas policies in America are creating massive food shortages across the country, putting Americans at risk of famine. One America’s Pearson Sharp has more.Video Link