WASHINGTON — President Biden convened House and Senate leaders at the White House Tuesday and told them that stopping a looming rail strike was one of his top priorities for the lame-duck session of Congress.
The president on Sept. 15 celebrated brokering a tentative deal to avert a work stoppage — but four of the 12 unions involved have snubbed the compromise ahead of a Dec. 9 deadline.
“There’s a lot to do, including resolving the train strike and the train — the what we’re doing now. And Congress, I think, has to act to prevent it,” Biden said in brief opening remarks in the White House Roosevelt Room.
“It’s not an easy call, but I think we have to do it,” the president added. “The economy is at risk.”
Biden sat at the head of a long table flanked by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) seated further along.
“I hope we’re going to fund the government, COVID and the war in Ukraine — all controversial and consequential issues,” Biden said in remarks lasting about one minute before reporters were shooed out of the room for private talks.
Biden didn’t mention the Senate’s expected passage on Tuesday evening of a bipartisan bill affirming the legality of same-sex and interracial marriage, or attempts to pass antitrust legislation targeting Big Tech, which advocates also hoped to accomplish before the current Congress breaks for the holidays.
The initial Monday request that Congress intervene in the rail dispute came despite Biden calling himself a “proud pro-labor President.” In 1992, he was one of just six senators to vote against setting up an arbitration system to end a previous rail strike, which Congress is empowered to do by the federal Railway Labor Act of 1926 — and Biden has argued in the past that such drastic moves unfairly undermine union collective bargaining efforts.
Lawmakers can use the same legislation to pass a resolution enshrining the terms of the tentative agreement announced in September, and Pelosi said the House would bring up such a measure for a vote on Wednesday.
“I don’t like going against the ability of the unions to strike,” Pelosi told reporters outside the West Wing after the meeting, “but weighing the equities, we must avoid a strike.”
“All four of us agreed we’ve got to resolve this rail shutdown as quickly as possible,” Schumer agreed.
The deal would give rail workers 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses retroactive to 2020 — meaning the average employee would get an immediate payout of $11,000 if the deal is ratified.
Workers would also receive an additional day of paid leave per year as well as unpaid time off for doctor’s appointments and medical procedures, and employee health insurance premiums would be capped at 15% of the total plan cost.
The four unions opposed to the deal primarily object to the lack of paid sick days in the bargain.
Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has said the agreement does not go far enough, tweeting on Sunday: “Last year, the rail industry made a record-breaking $20 billion in profits after cutting their workforce by 30% over the last 6 years. Meanwhile, rail workers have ZERO guaranteed paid sick days. Congress must stand with rail workers.”
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has also balked at forcing a settlement, tweeting Tuesday: “The railways & workers should go back & negotiate a deal that the workers, not just the union bosses, will accept”.
“But if Congress is forced to do it, I will not vote to impose a deal that doesn’t have the support of the rail workers,” he added.