President Joe Biden urged Congress on Monday to intervene to prevent a potentially crippling nation-wide rail strike after several rail labor unions rejected a White House-brokered agreement in September.
President Joe Biden had been delaying seeking congressional action for months, preferring to give more time to the freight rail industry and 12 of its unions to negotiate a contract. However, as warnings grew that a strike could begin as early as December 9, threatening to disrupt US power and water supplies and caue a huge impact on the broader economy, the pro-labor, pro-rail president said Monday that he saw “no path to resolve the dispute at the bargaining table.”
The news comes two months after Labor Secretary Marty Walsh held an all-night bargaining session at his agency’s headquarters, which resulted in a tentative agreement, temporarily averting a strike. However, members of three of the twelve unions have voted to reject the agreement since then.
If workers strike as early as December 9, American consumers and virtually all industries could suffer at the start of the holiday season. Congress could step in and impose contract terms on railroad workers, as Mr. Biden has suggested. With a congressional resolution, Congress can force workers back to their stations under the Railway Labor Act of 1926.
In response to the President, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated on Monday that the House will consider legislation to ratify an agreement between rail workers and operators so as to avoid a national rail shutdown.
“This week, the House will take up a bill adopting the Tentative Agreement — with no poison pills or changes to the negotiated terms — and send it to the Senate,” the California Democrat said in a statement. “It is my hope that this necessary, strike-averting legislation will earn a strongly bipartisan vote, giving America’s families confidence in our commitment to protecting their financial futures.”
Workers would receive a 24% raise over a course of five years, from 2020 to 2024 including one additional personal day; along with some protection from the rail carriers’ punitive attendance policies, allowing them to take time off for medical reasons without fear of repercussions.
However, paid sick leave was not on the table, and the board advised the unions to withdraw their proposal for 15 paid sick days. Rail unions operate on the principle that all 12 unions representing 115,000 freight rail workers must agree on a contract, and if one does not, workers represented by the others do not cross the picket line.
“We are reluctant to bypass the standard ratification process for the Tentative Agreement — but we must act to prevent a catastrophic nationwide rail strike, which would grind our economy to a halt,” Pelosi said.
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