A legally mandated "cooling-off period" was set to expire on Dec. While it initially looked as though the unions would accept the deal, when it was put to a vote, several members declined to ratify it. But after years of no progress, the parties were sent before a Presidential Emergency Board, also created under the same law, empowered to propose a solution. The Railway Labor Act provides for a National Mediation Board to assist in the talks. Railroad employees have been working without a contract since 2019, when the negotiations began. A major complaint was that this created unpredictable schedules for workers, who found themselves effectively "on call" even during their time off because there was so little slack in the workforce.
The unions all pointed out that rail freight carriers have for years been posting record profits while simultaneously cutting their workforces. The events Friday morning marked the culmination of a yearslong process in which multiple unions representing some 115,000 railroad workers negotiated with the management of freight giants CSX, Union Pacific and others over pay and benefits. economy, he nonetheless added, "I know this was a tough vote for members of both parties. In a brief signing ceremony at the White House on Friday morning, Biden said, "The bill I'm about to sign ends a difficult rail dispute and helps our nation avoid what, without a doubt, would have been an economic catastrophe at a very bad time in the calendar."Ĭalling freight rail the "backbone" of the U.S. Signing the bill into law was politically fraught for President Joe Biden, who frequently refers to his staunch support of unions in the United States. The sick leave proposal failed in the Senate, however. In the House, a measure to provide railroad workers with paid sick leave passed in tandem with the measure enforcing the agreement. The measure will prevent a strike that could have dealt a devastating blow to the U.S. Invoking the Railway Labor Act, the House and Senate passed legislation giving legal force to an agreement, brokered by the White House over the summer, that significantly increases workers' pay but fails to offer key benefits such as paid sick days. Congress and the Biden administration this week used the provisions of a 96-year-old labor law to force unions representing thousands of railway workers to accept a contract that many of them view as inadequate.
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