President Joe Biden is urging Congress to act in a bid to avoid a potential railroad strike that may cause further supply chain disruptions and result in a significant economic impact.
Per a recent report from ABC News, Biden, who describes himself as a “proud pro-labor” president, stated that while the decision to urge Congress to act was difficult, the larger economic considerations of a railroad strike were his primary concern.
“I am reluctant to override the ratification procedures and the views of those who voted against the agreement,” Biden said, referencing a railroad labor deal negotiated earlier in the year. “But in this case, where the economic impact of a shutdown would hurt millions of other working people and families, I believe Congress must use its powers to adopt this deal.”
Labor disputes in the railroad industry are governed under the Railway Labor Act (RLA), a federal law enacted in the ‘20s to address labor disputes in an industry considered vital to the U.S. economy. Per the RLA, which also covers the airline industry, if both parties in the dispute do not reach an agreement, employees can strike, or railroads can impose their own work rules, or both, at which point the RLA will no longer set terms.
The last time Congress voted to end a railroad strike was in April of 1991, forcing the parties in the dispute into a 65-day binding arbitration process less than 24 hours after a walkout.
The new tentative agreement between railroad companies and labor was reached in September, and includes a 24-percent compounded wage increase and $5,000 in lump-sum payments. Although labor unions highlighted wage increases, bonuses, no increase to insurance costs, and better time-off policies, four of the 12 rail unions rejected the contract, including the SMART Transportation Division, or SMART-TD, the largest rail union in the nation. Some workers groups cite compensation, working conditions, and paid sick days as sticking points.
If a railroad strike does occur, it’s expected to have a significant impact the U.S. economy. It’s estimated that railroad is responsible for the transportation of 40 percent of long-haul freight in the U.S.
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Comments
Does this mean that they won’t slow down instead. They just worked slower last time.
And what time would that be? Do you know the reason we had a slowdown? I do on both counts, number one there was cargo stuck in port because of lack of live bodies to unload them, I guess that was our fault, the carriers furloughed a third of our workforce, that’s our fault also, by the way those who think it’s a great job explain to me why out of those furloughed only 12% came back, get the RR websites and look at the list of jobs.
biden is a total joke and brings ZERO gravitas nor skills to the table. buttigieg is a total joke and incompetent clown.
Dave, why stop there, name one person in this administration that isn’t a joke.
Joe Brandon aka biden is a pos anyways.
“Point of Sale”?
piece of s***
Let the unions and RR’s work it out like every other private industry, Congress should have no authority here unless they are government employees.
I’m sure the government has contracts with the rail systems in one way or another
5 years ago avg full time fast food worker 16-20,000$ a year.. today part time worker 39k, full time 45k+ if they will work OT. UAW pay in that time frame+ 1.70/hour. Auto factories can not even get temps in the door @ 15.50$ lol
Congress has power to regulate interstate commerce and the Railway Labor Act of 1926 spells out the process for how unions and RRs bargain.
No work=no pay. That’s how it is in the skilled construction trade unions. Never complained because the wages and benefits are great. How can a contractor stay in business if the workers are off sick collecting pay? Of course there’s more to it than that.
RR workers can’t take a day off without steep penalties for attendance and in some cases losing thousands of dollars in pay. Sick leave is wanted just to avoid the harsh attendance policy.
My late Father worked for The Milwaukee Road for 33 years as a Yard Switch Man member of the UTU- United Transportation Union. For at least the last five years on the job ( retired in the 80’s ) besides his regular vacation days which if memory serves was 5 weeks, he also received 10 personal days.
These could be used for any reason on the shortest notice, as long as you called in before the start of shift, no questions asked. What the hell happened the last 35 years that this type of benefit was lost?
Having slow joe talk about anything is a joke! 🤦♂️
Why is this even a topic here….
He’s worthless.
I can tell by some of the comments here that they know nothing about the working conditions of the people that actually run the rails. The engineers, conductors, track maintenance and yard employees (among others too).
For one, these folks haveen’t had a contract for 4 years now. They haven’t gotten a raise, cost of living, nothing new in that time. They are on call 24/7, 365. they will be called to work at any time, any day, after their government mandated, not contractual, but government, rest time of of 10 hours. But wait, they will be called at the 8.5 hour rest point to be to work at the end of the 10th hour. Is that a true 10 hour break?
They only have a handful of “sick” days available, but wait again, those have to be scheduled 30 days in advance. So being sick is on a schedule. Is your job that way?
They only have a handful of “personal” days too. You may or may not get those when needed or wanted.
When you are on a run, there’s no telling when you will be coming back home after spending your rest time at the cheapest, railroad contracted motel in the area of your destination. Again will be called after your break, or maybe not. You may sit for 10 hours, or 2 or 3 days away from home. There’s that 24/7, 365 thing again. No set schedules. Sleep at different times every day.
These are just some of the gripes that weren’t covered at all in the Biden negotiated contract, except for 1 extra day off at the railroad’s discretion. The pay is not at the root of this “negotiation”. It’s the working conditions time off situation.
The railroad unions have no position to negotiate from anymore as the government will just send them back to work with mandated settlements of greivances, pay etc, etc. Is that a negotiation??
And we all know how things turn out when the federal government gets involved with the common man’s life and living conditions since they are so connected and understanding of the working man’s or woman’s life…..yeah
Let them strike, it’s their right and the government should stay out of it.
Wait, I have an idea….keep politics out of it!!!
GM supports this clown. GM pulled its advertising after Musk purchased Twitter. Conclusion then: GM must be against free speech. My reaction: considering never buying a GM vehicle again. Have owned 64 of them. Get woke, go broke!