Dec. 2—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Tensions spread across local companies and among workers as a collective bargaining disagreement intensified between nationwide freight railroad worker unions and rail companies — even as the federal government took steps to force a deal and avoid a rail strike.

Some local union members in other industries found themselves seeing both sides of the issue — supporting rail workers' rejection of a deal that contained zero paid sick days, but fearing the potential for a strike that would bring much of the economy to a halt.

Railroads haul about 40% of the nation's freight and a strike would result in a $2 billion-per-day loss to the American economy, according to the Associated Press.

Norfolk Southern Railway declined to speak about the prevalence of rail use by Johnstown-area industries while the national contract negotiations continued.

While some Americans have supported federal actions in the past week to force a contract before the Dec. 9 strike deadline, others decried the government for forcing a collective bargaining agreement.

North American Hoganas' powdered steel plant in Somerset County receives its raw materials — scrap metal — by rail, said Mark Middleton, president of the United Steelworkers union at North American Hoganas.

"I think it would have had a tremendous impact on us, seeing as how all of our scrap comes in on rail," he said, "but our big thing here in the steelworkers union is with the government and its overreach. What right do they have to interfere with a collective bargaining agreement?"

1926 Railway Labor Act

Congress can step in to resolve disputes between labor unions and railroads under the 1926 Railway Labor Act, as part of its power under the Constitution to regulate commerce. That law was written to prevent disruptions in interstate commerce and was last used in the 1990s.

"People will be aware of that law now, after this, because it's very disturbing," Middleton said.

A tentative agreement between rail workers and companies was first approved by labor and management negotiators in September. It was also championed by President Joe Biden. The deal provided, according to a statement by Biden, "a historic" 24% pay raise for rail workers.

However, the unions and companies remained distant on issues related to quality of life. The Associated Press reported that workers have complained about demanding schedules that make it hard for them to take a day off.

In addition, the rail unions have been pushing for the railroads to add paid sick time, but railroad companies have refused, saying unions have agreed over the decades to forgo paid sick time in favor of higher wages.

Sick days at issue

With the U.S. House of Representatives voting on Wednesday to force the contract that was tentatively agreed upon in September, followed by the Senate on Thursday, both Congressional chambers moved to avert a shutdown. After the Senate vote, the rail deal was sent to the president, who signed it on Friday.

An additional resolution that would have guaranteed seven days of paid sick leave for rail workers passed the House, but failed in the Senate despite efforts of Senate Democrats, including U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., who tried to push the House measure through the higher chamber.

"The tentative agreement brokered by President Biden ... makes meaningful improvements in the lives of railway workers," Casey said. "It's a good start, but it's not enough. These workers have zero paid sick days and can be penalized, or even fired, for taking time off when they get sick. We lauded these essential workers as heroes for risking and losing their lives in the early stages of the pandemic. They deserve the right to take time off when they're sick without loss of pay and without fear of retribution."

However, the resolution to add paid sick days to the deal was defeated 52 to 43 in the Senate, failing to secure the necessary 60 votes needed to pass.

In the House, U.S. Rep. John Joyce, R-Blair, voted yea to intervening in the strike and nay to the separate resolution that would have guaranteed seven paid sick days.

"Congress has acted 18 times in the past to prevent a national rail strike," Joyce said in a statement, "and in this instance, ratifying an agreement that was already agreed upon by the major parties, as well as the membership of eight of the 12 labor unions, is the right thing to do to ensure that Pennsylvania families, farmers, and businesses do not feel any unnecessary and completely avoidable pain this Christmas season."

Impacted on farming

Raising cattle and grain in Patton, Marty Yahner, co-owner of Yahner Brothers Farms and president of the Cambria County Farm Bureau, anticipated that a rail worker strike would create widespread trouble for farmers.

"Our whole industry would be affected just as much if not more than most because a whole lot of things get shipped by train, especially bulk commodities — so things like grain, fertilizer, all kinds of agricultural by-products," he said. "And equipment — combines, tractors, trucks, you name it — need to be shipped from factories to final destinations by train."

Train disruptions would also affect the regional ethanol plant, Pennsylvania Grain Processing in Clearfield, he said — "the largest ethanol plant east of the Mississippi River."

"They get a lot of corn for making ethanol by truck from farmers like us who deliver corn there, but they get just as much or more by train and rail," he said, "and every single kernel of corn that goes to that Clearfield plant on train travels the main line through Cresson, Patton and up through Clearfield, and then back down the same way."

While not taking a position on what railroad workers receive in their bargaining contract, he wholly supports the government's hand in averting a strike.

"I'm not for or against what conductors and engineers get," he said. "I don't take a position, but our farm bureau position is our members are asked to contact our senator."

'Would be devastating'

Gautier Steel Ltd., a rolled plate steel manufacturer in downtown Johnstown, receives regular shipments of raw materials on rail cars that pass through Gautier's facility, said Jeff Plummer, Gautier electrician and United Steelworkers Local 2632 financial secretary.

"I'm on both sides of this," he said. "I feel this could be a big burden on our country, but I'm also a firm believer that workers in our country should have a voice."

As a union official, he knows how negotiations unfold: "The union reaches for the stars, the company reaches for the bottom, and you meet in the middle, but it's not happening there. The union's main concern is having paid sick days. ... That's the (companies') biggest push-back on this."

While he recognized that the rail system is in a unique position where the government has the ability to intervene, Plummer said it appeared that Congress, Biden and the rail companies have piled on the workers.

"The hours they put in are crucial for the economy," he said. "If it is so crucial to the economy, why are we fighting the employees so much?"

In anticipation of a potential railroad strike, Gautier management in recent days had ordered dozens of railcar deliveries, he said.

However, for the automobile industry, stockpiling isn't the norm. Manufacturers operate on a "just-in-time basis" — getting a part today for a car that will be built tomorrow, Laurel Auto Group owner Matt Smith said.

Rail transportation carries car parts from the northern U.S. — Michigan for Ford — as well as from the South for a Hyundai plant, for example.

"You have rail bringing parts every day," Smith said. "If production lines stop, it would be devastating."

The automobile industry is already slowed by international and domestic supply chain delays, he said.

Even companies that don't use rail to ship goods or receive raw materials became nervous.

"We do not use rail for shipping, but supply chains are already heavily impacted and protracted right now, so any additional pressure on supply chain is challenging for us and everybody else who is in manufacturing," said Emily Korns, president of Somerset Welding and Steel.

The company builds steel dump truck bodies and a variety of transportation equipment for industries including mining and general construction. However, all of its shipping and receiving is conducted by highway.

The coal industry relies on rail and waterways to transport coal, depending on the location of a mine.

Across mines where workers are represented by the United Mine Workers of America, West Virginia mines are among those in the Appalachian Mountains region that would be affected by a rail strike, said Erin Bates, communications director for United Mine Workers of America.

"Obviously, the strike would have an adverse affect on coal mine production," Bates said, "but we will always stand behind the workers and the union's right to fight for a just contract."

If rail service stopped, it would reverse any progress made in lowering inflation and eliminate work for many Americans, JWF Industries President and CEO Bill Polacek said. For Johnstown-based defense and manufacturing contractor JWF, rail transportation is used for shipping some products to buyers.

"If we can't deliver to customers, then we can't bill them, and so we can't build goods. It would have a cascading effect," he said. "And steel mills (that) depend on shipping to warehouses would have their service interrupted. Supply-and-demand laws kick in and material would go to the highest bidder. Inflation would go up."