An aerial view, freight cars sit in a railroad yard near shipping containers on November 22 in Wilmington, Calif.
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An aerial view, freight cars sit in a railroad yard near shipping containers on November 22 in Wilmington, Calif.
Mario Tama / Getty Images
The House of Representatives is expected to vote today on a bill forcing unions to accept the agreement expected to have been reached earlier this year between railroad owners and their workers, and considers a possible impending strike to be illegal. President Biden is leading efforts to prevent a strike that could affect the shipping of goods and services, driving up prices of everyday items, including gasoline.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the House would also vote on a measure to add seven days of paid sick leave to the deal, an attempt to assuage concerns from labor unions and some lawmakers. , despite Biden’s request not to change the underlying agreement that was carefully negotiated.
Labor advocates have long criticized the deal for not addressing leave policies and in particular not covering paid sick days – a key sticking point between workers and management. in years-long negotiations.
“We are disappointed that Congress was called to intervene here for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that the president or Congress should not have interfered in the first place. The railroads should do the right thing,” Peter said. Kennedy said, the chief negotiator for BMWED, one of the unions that rejected the agreement on no sick leave, adding that the union was preparing to go on strike.
“We continue to ask Congress to do the right thing here, which is: If you legislate a solution, they should legislate paid sick leave along with tentative arrangements,” Kennedy said.
But railroad regulators have warned Congress not to make any changes to the agreement. They and Biden called on Congress to pass the bill implementing it as negotiated in the fall.
“The ramifications of approving such a measure would discourage future voluntary arrangements for freight rail, Amtrak and airlines if one party to the bargain believes it has A better deal can be obtained from Congress than is possible through good faith negotiations and legislation. [the Presidential Emergency Board] under the Railroad Labor Act,” said American Railroad Association President Ian Jefferies in a statement. “This ignores more than 100-year-old precedent and clearly usurps age-old negotiating procedures.”
Biden warned on Tuesday morning ahead of a meeting with House and Senate bipartisan leaders at the White House to discuss remaining legislative priorities the possibility of a rail strike without parliamentary action.
“It was not an easy call. But I think we have to do it,” he said before the meeting. “The economy is at risk.”
The call from the president comes weeks after the administration encouraged unions and management to come to an agreement at the bargaining table on their own – without congressional interference.
Threat of a two-week strike threatens supply chains
The earliest workers could strike is December 9, as four of the 12 unions – including the largest – have rejected the deal tentatively set by the Biden administration, management and lawmakers. union leaders to mediate in September.
“For us, the strike really starts this weekend,” said Corey Rosenbusch, president of the Fertilizer Institute. “Rail carriers have announced that ammonia shipments will need to be withdrawn from the network starting about five days before that, which is December 4. So many fertilizer companies have prepared for that fact.
Railroads handle the transportation of 30 to 40 percent of total freight, but handle the majority of products such as ethanol, fertilizer, and grain. Railway managers warn that with a strike, there are few other options given the ongoing truck shortage and the risk of a backlog of ports.
“I think the important thing to understand here when it comes to the contingency planning question is that shipping has no elasticity right now. We’re struggling with drivers, truckers and most recently, drivers. is that a lot of fertilizer also travels by waterways,” said Rosenbusch. “So the low water we’ve heard about in the Mississippi River has greatly restricted the barge-based fertilizer movement that has to be moved to the railroad.”
Biggest sticking point: sick leave
The government-negotiated contract includes provisions for a 24% pay rise over five years and a limit on health insurance premiums. But workers have argued they want fairer treatment, especially under absenteeism policies.
“They want paid sick leave,” Kennedy said. “It’s the same people working hard through the pandemic, risking their health to ensure that Americans have supplies while many of them work from home and via Zoom. So we I’m not asking for much here right now.”
But the rail management rejected that, arguing that sick leave was handled on a rail-by-line basis and each of the 12 separate union contracts included a form of paid sickness benefit. private. They also point to recommendations and tentative agreements drawn up by the President’s Emergency Board, a group that Biden assembled earlier this year to intervene in the negotiations.
“The PEB has certainly evaluated the proposals of both parties and made a recommendation and in their recommendation explicitly rejected the union’s request for an increase in the traditional paid sick leave because of business models. model that currently exists, but also said they are adding to the proposed wage increase in lieu of addressing those union requests,” Jefferies of the Association of American Railroads said on a call with the unions. reporter.
Bring the members on board
After a meeting between congressional leaders and the president on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters he and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had agreed to let the Senate pass a bill. “as soon as possible” by December 9. When asked if he has the right to vote, he said, “We’re working on it.”
At least one Republican in the Senate said leaders should not count on his ballot. In a tweet, Senator Marco Rubio wrote that he would not vote for a deal “without the support of railroad workers.” Others such as Democratic Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and John Hickenlooper of Colorado also said they would vote on a measure to address the agreed-upon paid sick leave.
