Rail strike threat renewed as largest rail union rejects labor contract

The odds of a rail strike have risen after a major union voted down a labor agreement between workers and railroads seeking to end months of stalled negotiations about pay and working conditions.

SMART Transportation Division, which represents the country’s rail conductors, announced on Monday that its members declined to ratify the agreement. Workers at a dozen unions involved in the railroad negotiations have until Dec. 9 to approve the agreement, or the United States could face the prospect of economically devastating rail strikes.

The vote among the union’s members was extraordinarily close, with SMART-TD voting it down by just 50.9%.