Former Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., told Newsmax on Wednesday that railway workers and management "have to come together" to avert a national railroad strike that could be devastating.
"People have to come together to solve this," Gardner said on "American Agenda." "The American people are paying more at the pump, they're paying more at the grocery store, the farmers are paying record high prices for inputs, whether that's the equipment they used or the fertilizer that they're applying."
Gardner said that his family business is blocks away from where a pinto bean company loads railcars, which would shut down if railroad workers go on strike after Friday's deadline.
"If that shuts down, that's jobs," he said. "That's economic opportunity in rural Colorado, that's higher pain, more pain, at the grocery store. That is exactly the opposite of what this country needs."
Union railroad workers and management at the nation's rail carrier companies are deadlocked over quality-of-life issues, including time off and sick time, according to the unions.
"This completely unnecessary attack on rail shippers by these highly profitable Class I railroads is no more than corporate extortion," the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainsmen and Sheet Metal, Air, Rail Transportation unions said in a joint statement Sept. 11.
"Our Unions remain at the bargaining table and have given the rail carriers a proposal that we would be willing to submit to our members for ratification, but it is the rail carriers that refuse to reach an acceptable agreement.
"In fact, it was abundantly clear from our negotiations over the past few days that the railroads show no intentions of reaching an agreement with our Unions, but they cannot legally lock out our members until the end of the cooling-off period."
The unions said train engineers and conductors want to be able to go to doctor appointments without the threat of being fired.
"Our members are being terminated for getting sick or for attending routine medical visits as we crawl our way out of worldwide pandemic," the statement said. "No working-class American should be treated with this level of harassment in the workplace for simply becoming ill or going to a routine medical visit."
Although union members have already voted to go on strike if their demands are not met, federal law requires a "cooling off" period before such an action can be taken, and that period ends Friday.
According to a Washington Post report Tuesday, President Joe Biden's administration is preparing for the potential crisis, which would exacerbate existing post-pandemic supply chain issues, as well as disrupt passenger rail service nationwide.
Federal passenger rail carrier Amtrak canceled cross-country routes Tuesday before Friday's potential strike.
"While we are hopeful that parties will reach a resolution, Amtrak has now begun phased adjustments," the Post reported the company saying in a statement Tuesday. "These adjustments are necessary to ensure trains can reach their terminals before freight railroad service interruption if a resolution in negotiations is not reached."
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