This just in! Auto sales recovery back on, as rail strike is called off

This just in! Auto sales recovery back on, as rail strike is called off

Three rail unions that had threatened to strike at noon on Dec. 6, settled their differences with the railroad today, Dec. 2, averting what would have been a serious blow to a recovery in auto sales that was headed for a 13.4 million year. Analysts had projected that a strike would have cost the U.S. economy about $2 billion daily and crippled auto production and sales.

A coalition of automaker and auto associations had pressed Congress to push for a settlement of the dispute. “Production at assembly plants and independent parts manufacturers throughout the country would be impacted immediately, and inventory at dealerships nationwide would quickly become constrained,” they said in a letter to all 535 members of Congress from the: Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers; the Association of Global Automakers; the National Automobile Dealers Association; the American International Automobile Dealers Association; the Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association; Specialty Equipment Market Association; and the American Automotive Policy Council.

We respectfully urge you to pursue all possible options ” including imposing the terms recommended by the Presidential Emergency Board on both rail management and labor ” to help avert a rail strike,” the letter said.

A strike, or partial strike, would have significantly hampered the ability of all auto manufacturers with plants in the U.S. to move components to assembly plants and pretty much stop shipment of finished vehicles. GM, for example, ships nearly 9,000 vehicles daily on rail cars.

This is great news!