(Originally published by Bloomberg Law on November 15, 2022) 

Former NLRB Chairman William Gould examines issues surrounding the potential strike by US railroad workers and the economic impact. Averting future labor disruptions will require the Biden administration and Congress to reform outdated laws, he says.

It all seemed so good after the Biden administration intervened in lengthy multi-union, multi-employer railway negotiations.

The parties had a tentative agreement to provide the industry’s 115,000 workers with a 24% wage increase between 2020 and 2024, and it appeared that an agreement could be reached without a national strike that would calamitously idle about 30% of the nation’s freight movement.

(Continue reading the opinion essay on Bloomberg Law’s page here.)