Supply Chain Fears Prompt Senate to Block Rail Labor Strike

Transportation and infrastructure attorney Michael Friedberg spoke with Law360 about Congress' passage of legislation imposing a tentative contract agreement on rail unions and railroads and blocking a potential strike. Since the Railway Labor Act was enacted in 1926, Congress has intervened 18 times in rail labor negotiations, and this year, concerns about the supply chain and energy needs were cited as reasons to stop a strike. Mr. Friedberg shared his thoughts on Congress' action.

"I've been saying that there's not going to be a strike. It just doesn't make political sense, and this is one of the reasons that Congress has the ability to intervene on these issues, and they have done [so] in the past because of the interstate and macro level issues," he said. "What people forget is that these agreements are ratified by people that are working on the railroads, and I don't think they care about the political ramifications. They care about the individual ramifications of their vote...That's where the president had to kind of thread a needle."

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