Beijing, China-based CRRC, the world’s leading rail car designer and builder for high speed trains and mass transit vehicles, is facing a major political problem. The company’s Boston, Massachusetts facility may be facing mass layoffs should the U.S. decide to further punish China with additional tariffs and restrictions in the ongoing battle to open Chinese markets to American goods, eliminate currency manipulation that unfairly impacts U.S. businesses, force China to stop the theft of military, industrial, and commercial intellectual property, and reduce the risk of infrastructure sabotage.
In an effort to prevent our enemies, namely China, from introducing security risks into major American products and critical infrastructure, legislators have amended the $733 billion annual military appropriations bill to include a section to keep American corporations from receiving federal funding for rail equipment from companies associated or controlled by the communist Chinese government.
The Defense Appropriations Act which is necessary to fund military operations in 2020 contains an amendment (S. 846) known as the Transit Infrastructure Vehicle Security Act. This legislative addendum "protects federal dollars from being spent on Chinese buses and railcars, and improves cybersecurity in public transportation.” The rationale, “Federal dollars should not support Chinese state-controlled enterprises that want to undermine U.S. manufacturers and overtake our supply chain that supports rail and bus manufacturing.” For those wishing to read and/or track the legislation, it can be found at here.
There is no doubt that a number of unionized American workers could lose their current positions and a large number of new workers will never be employed.
Understand, there is more at stake than the number of union employees that will be affected. China believes that control over logistics, especially the ports, rail systems, and trucking, is to be able to exert control over a nation’s economy — and has the ability to cripple, delay, or destroy individual companies and military efforts.
Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life, or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?