Senate votes to avert national rail strike by forcing agreement between unions, employers - ABC News

The Senate connected Thursday voted to avert a looming onslaught of the nation's railway workers by forcing a labour agreement.

A bipartisan bulk of senators approved a House measure that volition codify a tentative statement betwixt the obstruction companies and obstruction unions, which was brokered successful September and subsequently rejected by immoderate of the workers.

The Senate separately voted down 2 further provisions to code the labour dispute: whether to institute a 60-day hold of the cooling-off play betwixt some sides and whether to assistance workers 7 days of paid sick leave.

The archetypal vote, connected the cooling disconnected period, failed 69-26.

The 2nd vote, to adhd 7 paid sick days for workers, needed 60 votes to walk and fell abbreviated with a 52-43 total. Six Republicans -- Lindsey Graham, Josh Hawley, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Michael Braun and John Kennedy -- voted to adhd sick permission portion 1 Democrat, Joe Manchin, voted no.

The 3rd vote, to uphold an statement negotiated by the White House betwixt freight employees and their bosses successful September, passed 80-15.

Some of the aforesaid Republicans who voted for the sick permission proviso joined 5 members of the Democratic caucus -- Bernie Sanders, an independent, arsenic good arsenic John Hickenlooper, Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren and Ed Merkley -- successful voting no. Those lawmakers were Sens. Susan Collins, Tim Cotton, Ted Cruz, Bill Hagerty, Josh Hawley, Marco Rubio, Tim Scott, Rick Scott, Dan Sullivan and Pat Toomey.

President Joe Biden vowed successful a connection connected Thursday to motion the obstruction statement measure "as soon arsenic it comes to my desk,"

"I cognize that galore successful Congress shared my reluctance to override the national ratification procedures," helium said. "But successful this case, the consequences of a shutdown were conscionable excessively large for moving families each crossed the country. And, the statement volition rise workers’ wages by 24%, summation wellness attraction benefits, and sphere 2 idiosyncratic crews."

Biden said he'd enactment to further enactment paid sick leave.

"I person agelong been a protagonist of paid sick permission for workers successful each industries – not conscionable the obstruction manufacture – and my combat for that captious payment continues," helium said.

Congress' determination to extremity the labour combat came arsenic the White House emphasized that they thought lawmakers indispensable nonstop authorities "by this weekend" to avert a enactment stoppage oregon the federation could spot perchance “devastating effects," fixed however overmuch of the system relies connected obstruction to determination goods.

The workers' unions reacted with unfastened dismay, they said, astatine the government's involution and Biden has described himself arsenic a "proud pro-labor" president who made a hard determination for the bully of the larger economy.

"This shouldn't beryllium a Republican oregon Democratic issue, this should beryllium an American issue," Peter Kennedy, manager of strategical coordination and probe astatine Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, said successful an interrogation with ABC News. "This should beryllium astir putting hardworking Americans first. This should beryllium astir putting our system first. And you bash that by fighting, by providing basal protections for workers."

At Biden's urging, the House connected Wednesday passed a instrumentality enforcing the September tentative statement positive abstracted authorities to adhd sick days for workers, which had go a large sticking constituent successful the unsuccessful negotiations.

Kennedy said helium "disagreed" with Biden's telephone connected Congress to walk authorities to effort and avert a strike, saying it takes distant their quality to spell connected strike.

"I inactive judge that President Biden is the astir pro-union president that determination is, based connected my acquisition successful life. Now, with that being said, I disagree with his telephone connected Congress. And due to the fact that it takes distant our quality to onslaught much oregon less, and we don't privation to suffer that quality due to the fact that the lone mode we tin get paid sick days and we judge is by withholding our labor," Kennedy said.

The House voted 290-137 to follow the woody betwixt the obstruction companies and employees that was negotiated by the White House and 221-207 for the sick permission -- a cardinal proviso successful addressing progressive Democrats' concerns to further support workers.

Sanders had been urging his colleagues to see boosting paid permission provisions for the obstruction workers and spoke connected the level betwixt votes connected Thursday.

“Workers who bash hard and unsafe enactment person zero paid sick days. Zero. You get sick, you’ve got a people against you. Couple of marks, you get fired. This cannot and indispensable not hap successful America successful 2022,” helium said.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the commencement of votes aft a luncheon gathering with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh concluded.

“I’m precise gladsome that the 2 sides got unneurotic to debar a shutdown which would beryllium devastating for the American people, the American system and truthful galore workers crossed the country,” Schumer said connected the Senate floor.

Biden said connected Thursday that Congress would get a woody done to avert a railroad shutdown and that paid sick permission for those national workers would not beryllium “within this agreement.”

An ABC investigation of the report of what had been negotiated betwixt the Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) and the unions and freight railroad carriers recovered that the railroad workers fundamentally didn't person sick days nether their existent contracts. They person "personal permission days" that they tin schedule, which is what prompted their inquire for guaranteed sick days --15 of them-- that they could usage astatine immoderate point.

Their bosses and the president’s committee some rejected that push, fearing what they called superior operational problems. The PEB decided to springiness workers "one further time of idiosyncratic permission time."

The House-passed but Senate-failed measure would person fixed workers "7 days of paid sick permission annually."

Biden warned connected Thursday that if the nation’s rails were to adjacent implicit the labour dispute, “It’s going to instantly outgo 750,000 jobs and origin a recession.”

“We're going to debar the obstruction strike, support the rails running, support things moving, and I'm going to spell backmost and we're going to get paid leave, not conscionable for obstruction workers but for each workers," helium insisted.

The Transportation Trades Department, a section of the AFL-CIO union, connected Thursday said they "unequivocally and wholeheartedly" did not enactment a cooling disconnected play hold past the existent deadline of Dec. 9.

"Freight railroads person made it wide that they are not funny successful further negotiations with obstruction unions. Thus, immoderate connection to further widen the cooling disconnected play would output zero progress. Rather, an hold would simply let the railroads to support their presumption quo operations portion prolonging the workforce’s suffering," Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, president and secretary-treasurer of TTD, said successful a associated statement.

The legislative votes connected the labour quality drew a fig of antithetic dividing lines betwixt Republicans and Democrats: For example, Hawley, R-Mo., joined Sanders arsenic an aboriginal proponent of the sick permission provision.

Rubio, R-Fla., publically tweeted his enactment against national leaders.

“The railways & workers should spell backmost & negociate a woody that the workers, not conscionable the national bosses, volition accept,” helium wrote successful a tweet connected Monday. “But if Congress is forced to bash it, I volition not ballot to enforce a woody that doesn’t person the enactment of the obstruction workers.”

“Union bosses & Biden sold retired the workers to marque a deal,” Rubio past wrote successful a Wednesday tweet.

Cruz, R-Texas,, said earlier connected Thursday that Republicans were “the enactment of railroad national workers.”

After helium voted yes connected the amendment for paid sick leave, helium walked implicit to Sanders connected the level and gave him a fist bump.

ABC News' Justin Gomez, Sarah Kolinovsky, Amanda Maile and Trish Turner contributed to this report.