U.S. Congress backs bill to avert rail shutdown
Congress gave final approval to a bill blocking a national U.S. railroad strike that could have devastated the American economy but rejected a measure that would have provided paid sick days to railroad workers. The U.S. Senate voted 80 to 15 on Thursday to impose a tentative contract deal reached in September on a dozen unions representing 115,000 workers, who could have gone on strike on Dec. 9.
The bill now goes to President Joe Biden, who will sign it into law. A rail strike could freeze almost 30% of U.S. cargo shipments by weight, stoke already surging inflation, cost the American economy as much as $2 billion a day and strand millions of rail passengers.
The U.S. House of Representatives approved the bill to block a strike on Wednesday and separately voted to require seven days of paid sick leave for rail workers. There are no paid short-term sick days under the tentative deal after unions asked for 15 and railroads settled on one personal day.
The sick leave measure did not win the required 60-vote supermajority in the Senate and was not endorsed by the White House. A total of 52 senators, including 44 Democrats, two independents and six Republicans voted to mandate sick leave for rail workers, while 42 Republicans and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin voted against it. Congress invoked its sweeping powers to block strikes involving transportation – authority it does not have in other labor disputes – because of the significant impact a rail stoppage could have on the U.S. economy, especially at the height of the holiday shopping season.
The Senate earlier rejected a proposal by Senator Dan Sullivan to extend the cooling-off period by 60 days to allow for further negotiations. Biden has praised the proposed contract, which includes a 24% compounded pay increase over five years and five annual $1,000 lump-sum payments, and he had asked Congress to impose the contract without any modifications.
Without the legislation, rail workers could have gone out next week, but the impacts would be felt as soon as this weekend as railroads stopped accepting hazardous materials shipments and commuter railroads began canceling passenger service. U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Suzanne Clark praised “Congress for averting a catastrophic rail strike” and called it “a win for our country.”
Biden’s administration had said on Wednesday that without a deal “railroads will begin to halt the movement of critical materials like chemicals to clean our drinking water as soon as this weekend.” Senator Bernie Sanders and others denounced railroad companies for refusing to offer paid sick leave.
“They are maybe the worst case of corporate greed that I have seen,” Sanders said. “That is really barbaric in the year 2022 in America.” The American Association of Railroads had warned the sick leave proposal would “undermine bargaining and artificially add to contracts beyond the scope of the Biden-endorsed agreements.”
Eight of 12 unions have ratified the deal. But some labor leaders have criticized Biden for asking Congress to impose a contract that workers in four unions have rejected over its lack of paid sick leave. The contracts cover workers at carriers including Union Pacific, Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s BNSF, CSX , Norfolk Southern Corp and Kansas City Southern.
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