The stakes couldn’t be higher. Responsible for transporting about 40 percent of long-distance goods, the rail transport sector is critical to the nation’s economy, including supplies needed for electricity and potable water, and goods such as food and gifts for the holiday shopping season. Therefore, if a strike were to occur soon, Congress would face great pressure to intervene.
So far, Democrats have resisted calls from some GOP lawmakers and the rail industry to force both parties to accept the recommendations of an emergency board appointed by President Joe Biden. This compromise would increase workers’ salaries by 24 percent over five years, but did not include paid sick leave, a major issue in the negotiations.
The Railroad Markers Brotherhood initially said the “calm down” period when it might not strike would end on November 19, like another union that had previously rejected its contract. However, the peculiar language of the agreement he made with the railways makes it possible for the period to end on December 4.
“As the president has been saying for months, any shutdown is absolutely unacceptable,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday. “It is the responsibility of the parties involved to resolve this issue. Any idea that kicking this into Congress will result in a quick or positive outcome is deeply misguided. That’s our perspective from here.”
While any strikes will occur after the midterm elections, even the prospect of such an economic disaster on Biden’s watch jeopardizes the Democrats’ credibility in running the economy. Just weeks ago, when a compromise brokered by Labor Secretary Marty Walsh temporarily averted the threat of a strike, the White House reassured that the issue would be resolved.
“Negotiators [workers’] Christine McDaniel, a former Treasury Department official, now a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, knew where the red lines were when the time came. “Why didn’t they bring this up during the negotiation, especially when the Minister of Labor – a member of the president’s Cabinet – was involved in the negotiations? It’s time to really clarify what your red lines are.”
Walsh declined to comment on the final vote.
So far, six unions, representing about 20 percent of the 125,000 workers covered by the proposed contracts, have voted to approve their deals. Two unions, representing about 25 percent of workers, have now voted no. However, a single union to quit the job could trigger a nationwide shutdown due to other workers’ reluctance to cross the strike limit.
Railroads and their unions spent three years trying to negotiate a new contract, eventually forcing Biden to appoint a board to find a solution. This solution is part of contract negotiations, although most of the unions involved are negotiating for more. The threat of closure on September 16 was averted when the three unions, which had not yet reached a tentative agreement with the railways, reached an agreement in the early morning hours of September 15.
None of the remaining votes scheduled for the end of November are predictable results, but ordinary workers have expressed widespread dissatisfaction with working conditions, including longer periods away from home, extended call-up schedules that could drive them back to work. days off and insufficiently paid sick leave. They say the Biden-backed board’s proposal, as well as the contracts put forward by the carriers, haven’t done enough to address their concerns.
“Our members are upset,” said Ron Behrens, general secretary of Union Pacific General Committee 88, the largest subsidiary of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, noting that the Union Pacific rail carrier reported a profit of $1.9 billion in the quarter ended September. 30.
“It’s hard for members when they don’t want to give us an extra day or two of sick leave,” Behrens said.
Union Pacific spokesperson Kristen South said it was “wrong” for railroad workers not to take time off from work, adding that “no Union Pacific employee has ever been fired for missing a day’s work and we are actively helping employees who are facing time-consuming challenges.” closed.” He said the railroad is working with union leadership to pilot “a work/rest program that we hope to learn and implement more broadly.”
Another problem for members of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen: cost-of-living adjustments for workers living in expensive states like California.
“Our men are being hired by the railroads so that no one dies at a crossing or die on the rails from train accidents,” said Doug Dawley, deputy chair of the Burlington North General Committee 12, the union’s second-largest member. How important is this, what are we doing? Still, our guys make less money than food servers in some parts of the country.”
Independent, inter-union group Railroad Workers United organizes workers to reject temporary deals.
“The fact that these workers are willing to vote no to this contract is very meaningful,” said Ross Grooters, a member of both Railroad Workers United and the 25,000-member Fellowship of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. He said the two unions that had voted no so far were “not subject to the worst provisions”. [of the tentative agreements] … that’s why it makes so much sense that people who don’t feel the worst effects of this convention are willing to vote ‘no’. That’s a strong signal.”
Freight rails tell their employees three to five weeks of paid leave, partial pay in the event of a short-term disability, and the freedom to “lay off” – they must temporarily remove themselves from the list of current employees at any time and any time. reason. They also say that federal law limits the number of hours railroad workers can work and guarantees a certain amount of rest.
The Committee of the National Carriers Conference, the coalition that represents the railroads in the bargain, said Biden’s board “recommendations remain the framework for a deal,” said in a statement last week after the Roadworkers Protection Fellowship Division released new demands. “This is not the time to present new demands that rekindle the possibility of a rail strike,” he said.
The timing of the union vote works in favor of the possibility of lawmakers re-extending the cooldown to allow negotiations to proceed without the threat of strikes. That’s because Congress will have returned from its post-election recess just five days before the end of the current cooldown.
“Alternatively, I’m not comfortable with letting Congress write our agreement and letting them do that,” Behren said. “We have worker-friendly congressmen and senators, but you know how adept they are at writing an employment contract?”
“None of us want to risk the economy,” he said. “But… it gets to the point where you get everything you can get this round.”
Workers themselves admit that the option of congressional intervention makes the possibility of a real strike almost out of reach.
“A strike is unlikely,” Dawley said. “There would have been an opportunity for employees to show they were sorry – but it wouldn’t be something we could do for a week or 10 days because that wouldn’t be allowed. We can’t control that.”
“The railroads know this and so do we,” he added.
National leaders of the Brotherhood of Railway Signalmen did not respond to a request for comment.
The International Union of Machinists and Aerospace Workers overwhelmingly voted to go on strike in September, when its members became the first union to reject the contract their leaders had accepted. Rather than strike, the union leadership extended the cooldown to allow more time for negotiation—a decision that led at least one local leader to blame the leadership for “weakening.”[ing] common voices of all 1st Class Railway workers.”
Josh Hartford, an official of the machinists and aviation union, said the move was difficult but strategic: “Historically, Congress has been involved whenever there was a real threat of railroad shutdown,” he wrote to the disgruntled. formal. “When Congress gets involved, we lose.”
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