The House has reportedly passed resolution 290-137 to avert a rail strike, forcing the Unions to accept the initial agreement.
This came after US President Joe Biden failed to avert Rail strike after the Rail Union rejected his deal early October amid his efforts to head off a strike that could upend the transportation of services and goods which skyrocketed prices on everyday items, including gasoline.
In an exclusive report released by NPR, it was revealed that the House “voted on a resolution that would provide seven days of paid sick leave to railroad workers. That measure passed 221 to 207. The effort is meant to ease concerns from labor unions and some lawmakers, despite Biden’s request not to alter the carefully negotiated underlying deal. However, the Senate will also vote on both measures separately — meaning it’s possible the contract could be approved without the sick leave change.”
Following the voting in the House, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre released a statement, claiming that the Biden administration does not believe that the Senate has the 60 votes needed to pass the sick leave measure.
Congress prepares to avert a massive railroad strike https://t.co/sJravlaZU5
— NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) November 30, 2022
“The president of course supports paid sick leave, including rail workers, but he does not support any bill or amendment that will delay getting this bill to his desk by Saturday and he has been very clear about that,” Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
Meanwhile, labor advocates blasted the Congress and criticized the agreement for not addressing issues of leave policies and the sick leave days.
“We’re disappointed that Congress is being called to intervene here for a couple reasons. The first one is it shouldn’t take the president or Congress to intervene to begin with. The railroads should do the right thing,” Peter Kennedy, chief negotiator for BMWED said in a statement.
“We continue to ask that Congress do the right thing here, which is: If you’re going to legislate a solution, they should legislate paid sick leave along with the tentative agreements,” he added.
Moreover, Railroad managers also warned the Congress against making any changes to the agreement, urging the latter to pass a bill that would implement it as it was negotiated in the fall.
“The ramifications of approving such a measure would disincentivize future voluntary agreements for freight railroads, Amtrak and airlines if a party in bargaining believes it can obtain a better deal from Congress than it could through good faith negotiations and the statutory [the Presidential Emergency Board] process under the Railway Labor Act. This ignores over 100 years of precedent and clearly usurps long-standing bargaining procedures.” Association of American Railroads President Ian Jefferies in a statement said.
The Rail Union which represents nearly 12,000 railroad workers refused to accept Biden’s tentative contract agreement between freight railroad companies and all 12 of their unions which was presented by White House last month.
Early October, BMWED president Tony Cardwell released a statement where he lamented against the agreement.
“Railroaders do not feel valued. They resent the fact that management holds no regard for their quality of life, illustrated by their stubborn reluctance to provide a higher quantity of paid time off, especially for sickness.” Cardwell said.
“The majority of the BMWED membership rejected the tentative national agreement and we recognize and understand that result. I trust that railroad management understands that sentiment as well. Railroaders are discouraged and upset with working conditions and compensation and hold their employer in low regard.” Cardwell added.
“The result of this vote indicates that there is a lot of work to do to establish goodwill and improve the morale that has been broken by the railroads’ executives and Wall Street hedge fund managers,” he continued.
