We are joined by Justin Roczniak—of the excellent engineering disasters podcast, Well There’s Your Problem—to talk about the potential freight rail strike that has been brewing for a long time and near-future scenarios for the supply chain. We discuss the horrid labor conditions in the industry and the scourge of Precision Scheduled Railroading, a system of management that has transformed the entire railroad sector so it serves one god: The Operating Ratio.

follow Justin: https://twitter.com/who_shot_jgr

Well There’s Your Problem: https://linktr.ee/wtyppod

Some stuff we reference:

••• SMART-TD, BLET joint statement on rail embargo https://smart-union.org/smart-td-blet-joint-statement-on-rail-embargo/

••• A Nationwide Freight Railroad Shutdown Could Cost $2 Billion a Day https://www.aar.org/economic-impact-of-railroad-shutdown#

••• ‘It’s Going to End Up Like Boeing’: How Freight Rail Is Courting Catastrophe https://www.vice.com/en/article/3angy3/freight-rail-train-disaster-avoidable-boeing

••• Rail Strike Threatens to Slow US Supply-Chain Recovery https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-09-12/supply-chain-latest-us-railroad-strike-threatens-supply-chain-recovery

••• Rail Unions Are Bargaining Over a Good Job Made Miserable https://www.labornotes.org/2022/02/rail-negotiations-are-about-good-job-made-miserable

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Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)