The United States House of Representatives moved urgently to head off the looming nationwide rail strike on Wednesday, passing a bill that would bind companies and workers to a proposed settlement that was reached in September but rejected by some of the 12 unions involved.
The measure passed by a vote of 290-137 and now heads to the Senate. If approved there, it will be quickly signed by President Joe Biden, who requested the action.
Biden on Monday asked Congress to intervene and avert the rail stoppage that could strike a devastating blow to the nation’s fragile economy by disrupting the transportation of fuel, food and other critical goods. Business groups, including the US Chamber of Commerce and the American Farm Bureau Federation, warned that halting rail service would cause a US$2-billion-per-day hit to the economy.
The bill would impose a compromise labour agreement, brokered by the Biden administration, that was ultimately voted down by four of the 12 unions representing more than 100,000 employees at large freight rail carriers. The unions have threatened to strike if an agreement can’t be reached before a December 9 deadline.
Lawmakers from both parties expressed reservations about overriding the negotiations. And the intervention was particularly difficult for Democratic lawmakers, who have traditionally sought to align themselves with the politically powerful labour unions that criticised Biden’s move to intervene in the contract dispute and block a strike.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded to that concern by adding a second vote on Wednesday that would add seven days of paid sick leave per year for rail workers covered under the agreement. However, it will take effect only if the Senate goes along and passes both measures.
The call for more paid sick leave was a major sticking point in the talks. The railroads say the unions have agreed in negotiations over the decades to forgo paid sick time in favour of higher wages and strong, short-term disability benefits.
The head of the Association of American Railroads trade group said on Tuesday that railroads would consider adding paid sick time in the future, but said that change should wait for a new round of negotiations instead of being added now, near the end of three years of contract talks.
The unions maintain that railroads can easily afford to add paid sick time at a time when they are recording record profits. Several of the big railroads involved in these contract talks reported more than US$1-billion profit in the third quarter.
The compromise agreement that was supported by the railroads and a majority of the unions provides for 24 per cent raises and $5,000 in bonuses, retroactive to 2020, along with one additional paid leave day. The raises would be the biggest rail workers have received in more than four decades. Workers would have to pay a larger share of their health insurance costs, but their premiums would be capped at 15 per cent of the total cost of the insurance plan. The agreement did not resolve workers’ concerns about schedules that make it hard to take a day off and the lack of more paid sick time.
The Biden administration issued a statement in support of Congress passing the bill that implements the most recent tentative agreement, stressing that it would provide improved healthcare benefits and a historic pay raise. But the statement was silent on the measure that would add seven sick days to the agreement.
“To be clear, it is the policy of the United States to encourage collective bargaining, and the administration is reluctant to override union ratification procedures and the views of those union members who voted against the agreement,” the White House said. “But in this case – where the societal and economic impacts of a shutdown would hurt millions of other working people and families – Congress must use its powers to resolve this impasse.”
Congress has intervened in labour disputes by enacting legislation to delay or prohibit railway and airline strikes on past occasions.
AP