ATLANTA — Atlanta-based Norfolk Southern and other rail carriers continue to negotiate with a dozen unions to avert a strike before a Friday morning deadline — a strike that could cause more supply chain disruptions.
“We want a prompt resolution that allows us to continue serving customers and prevents disruption of an already fragile U.S. supply chain,” said Norfolk Southern Executive Vice President Ed Elkins. “We have asked the holdout unions to come to the table and finalize an agreement, … and we will continue to seek a voluntary agreement.”
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Twelve unions are negotiating for better pay and working conditions for its union members. Two of the holdout unions — the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail Transportation Workers and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen — issued a statement, saying, “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.”
Georgia is still recovering from supply chain issues created during the pandemic. The state built a Mega Rail Yard outside the Port of Savannah to speed up the movement of cargo containers from ships to the railroads. The ports of Savannah and Brunswick are two of the busiest sea ports on the East Coast.
TRENDING STORIES:
- Man shot to death in DoorDash delivery gone wrong in Conyers, deputies say
- Fight sends DeKalb high school student to hospital day after 3 teens arrested in another brawl
- Troopers: Gwinnett County officer who hit, killed moped driver was looking at computer while driving
In a statement, the Georgia Ports Authority said, “Should a strike occur, GPA has the capability to sort rail bound imports as they are offloaded from vessels and send them to specific stacks on the container yard. The Port of Savannah recently added 20,000 container slots at the Garden City Terminal. Additionally, Georgia Ports has options for moving stalled rail containers by truck to off-terminal depots. These options give the GPA the ability to absorb the impact of unexpected variances in trade while maintaining the fluid movement of cargo.”
Norfolk Southern has a big footprint in Georgia, with over 1700 miles of tracks and more than 3300 employees here.
The deadline to reach an agreement is 12:01 Friday morning.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
IN OTHER NEWS:
This browser does not support the video element.