It came down to the wire, but a strike by rail workers that threatened to cripple U.S. supply chains has been averted. After 20 hours of negotiations, railroad union leaders reached a tentative deal with industry leaders to avoid a strike that threatened to shut down rail lines in New Jersey and across the country. The tentative deal was reached after President Biden placed a call to U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, urging him to get it done. The details of the agreement haven’t been released yet, but reports say workers will get a 24% wage increase over the next 5 years. Both sides are now in what’s called a cooling down period.
“There was a big sigh of relief to see that a deal was reached, and especially since we’re going into the holiday season, and it would’ve been really disruptive. And a lot of companies really need a good holiday season to rebound from a tough economy,” said Anthony Russo, president of the Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey.
