Freight rail strike could disrupt U.S. supply chain: IU experts available to comment
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Amid high prices and the holiday shopping season, U.S. lawmakers are debating how to address a looming threat to the country’s supply chain in the form of a potential work stoppage among freight rail workers.
A strike — which could cost the economy an estimate $2 billion a day and impact critical resources such as fresh water as well as access to consumer goods — is expected to begin Dec. 9 if lawmakers are unable to complete passage of a House bill to codify a tentative contract agreement over the objection of some workers. But delays are emerging in the Senate over partisan conflicts related to the issue of paid sick leave, among other contract terms.
IU experts on supply chain, economics and labor studies are available to comment.
For more information, contact Kevin Fryling at kfryling@iu.edu or 812-856-2988.
Vivek Astvansh
Kelley School of BusinessVivek Astvansh is a marketing professor who has studied labor unionization. He is the associate director of research at the Center for Education and Research in Retail, an affiliate of the Environmental Resilience Institute, and a fellow of the Institute for Corporate Governance at the Kelley School of Business at IU Bloomington. He also researches how marketing (thoughts, personnel, actions and assets) can help a company improve its performance in the society, product market and financial market.
Expertise
Machine learning, artificial intelligence, innovation, customer service, chatbot, supply chain, gender diversity, cultural diversity, innovation, social media, news media, branding, environmental pollution (climate change), compliance, public policy, corporate grammar, corporate social responsibility, analytics, advertising, political risk, short-selling.
Carl Briggs
Kelley School of BusinessCarl M. Briggs is a clinical professor of operations and decision technologies, a Fettig/Whirlpool Faculty Fellow and co-director of the Business Operations Consulting Workshop in the IU Kelley School of Business.
Expertise
Enterprise project management, analytical techniques for supply chain procurement, simulation modeling tools and techniques, scholarship of teaching and learning.
Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt
Maurer School of LawProfessor Kenneth Dau-Schmidt is a nationally recognized teacher and scholar on the subjects of labor and employment law and the economic analysis of legal problems. His innovative teaching methods using classroom simulations have been widely featured in publications including the Christian Science Monitor, Chronicle of Higher Education, Chicago Sun-Times and National Jurist.
Expertise
Labor law, including unions, collective bargaining, NLRB processes and public sector unions; employment law, including employment contracts, Fair Labor Standards Act (minimum wage law), OSHA (safety), workers compensation, unemployment compensation, ERISA (pensions); and the legal profession, including income, job satisfaction, hours worked, gender.
Marquita Walker
School of Social Work, Department of Labor StudiesMarquita Walker is the interim chair and associate professor of labor studies at the IU School of Social Work. Most of her research explores a theoretical approach and practical application to the (re)entry of workers into the workforce and the protection of workers’ rights.
Expertise
Workers’ education and (re)entry into the workforce, labor-management relationships, the protection of workers’ rights in global supply chains, indirect bias as a barrier to women’s entry into apprenticeship programs and the workforce in general.
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