As rail strike deadline nears, Biden to call on Congress to intervene - The Washington Post

A obstruction onslaught could endanger the nation’s h2o supply, halt rider obstruction question and trigger large disruptions to the U.S. proviso concatenation during the tallness of the vacation season, perchance worsening inflation. Already, immoderate tech companies person begun rerouting cargo shipments from railroads to trucks successful mentation for a imaginable shutdown, according to CNBC.

Union officials person said it’s looking progressively improbable that the unions and large obstruction freight carriers would scope a woody implicit lingering issues earlier a Dec. 9 onslaught deadline, renewing unit connected Congress and the White House to intervene.

Four retired of 12 unions that correspond the bulk of U.S. freight railroad workers person voted down tentative agreements, brokered by the White House, citing vexation implicit deficiency of paid sick clip and punitive attendance policies. Railroad workers bash not person paid sick days and are punished for taking clip off. Carriers person said that their attendance policies are indispensable to support the obstruction lines staffed, and that they let workers to instrumentality clip disconnected erstwhile needed, by utilizing paid abrogation time.

All 12 unions request to ballot individually to ratify their contracts. If 1 national moves to strike, each of the unions — which correspond much than 115,000 obstruction workers — would astir apt determination successful solidarity, triggering an industry-wide enactment stoppage.

On Capitol Hill, Democrats signaled that they were waiting for guidance from the White House, though successful caller days, enactment leaders privately person discussed legislative contingency plans. On Sunday, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) signaled it was a precedence for the party, telling members successful a missive that enactment is “aware of the ongoing freight obstruction negotiations and ought to proceed to show their advancement successful the days ahead.”

It remains unclear what benignant of enactment Congress would take, but it could enforce a mentation of an statement recommended by a Biden-appointed committee earlier this twelvemonth that was rejected by the unions. Some unions person been lobbying Congress successful caller weeks to adhd paid sick days to the deal.

Congress could besides widen a cooling-off period, allowing parties to proceed negotiating until they scope an agreement, oregon unit some sides to participate arbitration, wherever a third-party mediator gets involved.

The U.S. Chamber of Congress and immoderate 400 concern groups, representing a wide scope of industries, from meatpackers to jewelers, sent a letter to Congress connected Monday saying the looming obstruction onslaught is of “grave urgency.” They called for Congress to intervene earlier the onslaught deadline if a woody is not reached to “ensure continued obstruction service.”

“A stoppage of obstruction work for immoderate duration would beryllium highly damaging to American families and our economy, costing $2 cardinal dollars per day,” the missive said.

Tony Caldwell, president of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, 1 of the unions that voted down the agreement, said his members volition not ratify a woody unless it includes much expansive sick permission benefits. The national is asking for 4 paid sick days. But successful the latest negotiations past week, the obstruction carriers “stated that they were unwilling to negociate over” sick days, Caldwell said.

The national represents immoderate 23,000 obstruction workers who hole and support obstruction infrastructure, specified arsenic signals, tracks, ballast and obstruction cars. They accidental they’ve besides been affected by terrible understaffing but did not person immoderate further paid days disconnected oregon the quality to telephone retired sick without punishment successful their contract.

“During [the] pandemic, our members suffered the most. They worked successful ample gangs of 30 to 100 men and rode successful buses and the cabs of machines together,” Caldwell said. “The pandemic dispersed done our rank similar wildfire. We mislaid members to sickness and death. They aren’t blessed with the woody due to the fact that it didn’t code their main issue: sick leave.”

Meanwhile, the commercialized radical representing the large railroads said they are pressing to find a mode forward.

“We are connected a finite timeline and the timepiece is ticking connected this,” said Ian Jefferies, president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads. “We’re precise focused connected taking each measurement indispensable to debar a enactment stoppage.”