Locomotive engineers across the nation are holding a strike vote.

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Locomotive engineers with most of the large carriers are covered under a national agreement for wages and health-care benefits. The large carriers are posting record profits year after year and still are demanding wage and benefit concessions. Both sides have been released from mediation and are now in a 30-day cooling-off period.

It is expected that President Obama will appoint a Presidential Emergency Board during that 30-day period to investigate the dispute. If he doesn't, strikes and lockouts are possibilities.

http://www.ble-t.org/pr/news/newsflash.asp?id=5180

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1. Kick. An engineer strike would be a difficult thing. With the nation's appetite for cheap crap

from China only growing, rail transports a lot of container traffic.

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2. One more kick for Solidarity.