Former Texas Railroad Commissioner warns of rail strike

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Former Texas Railroad Commissioner warns of rail strike

During an interview with Maria Friday, former Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton warned of the dangers of a potential rail strike on the industry and the struggling U.S. economy.

RYAN SITTON: Well, let's take one thing that railcars move a lot of coal. Nearly 22% of the nation's electricity comes from coal-fired power plants, and 70% of the coal is transported via rail. One of the things that's unique about this strike is that you have 12 unions working together, which could almost single-handedly bring down the rail industry. If you take 70% of 22% or 14% of our electricity generation offline, that would cripple the United States.

You have a monopoly here, unfortunately. The labor unions are controlling a huge part of our economy and have the ability to hold America hostage through these negotiations. I'm all for every American out there trying to get better pay, better benefits, and better conditions at the same time. If you have the ability to collectively bargain and threaten our economy, that's a bad situation.