WASHINGTON — President Biden signed laws Friday forcing railway unions to simply accept a labor agreement despite employee objections to an absence of paid sick days — hours before hobnobbing with visiting British royals.
Biden frequently calls himself the “most pro-union president” in history but asked Congress to intervene Monday, saying the US economy couldn’t bear a railway shutdown.
The president will meet Friday afternoon in Boston with Prince William, the heir to the UK crown, and his wife Kate Middleton — creating awkward optics after the president also hosted billionaires and Hollywood stars Thursday night for a lux state dinner on the White House lawn.
“The bill I’m about to sign ends a difficult rail dispute and helps our nation avoid what for sure would have been an economic catastrophe at a really bad time on the calendar,” Biden said before inking his signature.
“A rail shutdown would have devastated our economy. Without freight rail, most of the US industries will literally shut down,” Biden said. “My economic advisors report that as many as 765,000 Americans … would have been put out of labor … throughout the first two weeks of the strike.”
“Look, I do know this bill doesn’t have paid sick leave that these rail staff and albeit every employee in America deserves. But that fight isn’t over,” the president said, almost apologetically.
The rail laws easily cleared the House and Senate this week with bipartisan support, though members of each parties also said it was fallacious for Biden to override attempts by unions for a greater deal ahead of a Dec. 9 deadline.
Biden announced the controversial package within the White House Rose Garden in September after his deputies brokered it following all-night talks between railway management and representatives of 12 unions.
But members of 4 of those unions later voted to reject the cut price, citing a continued lack of sick days.
Among the roughly 115,000 impacted rail staff trashed Biden for snuffing out their complaints.
“Joe Biden blew it,” Railroad Employees Union treasurer Hugh Sawyer said Monday. “He had the chance to prove his labor-friendly pedigree to thousands and thousands of staff by simply asking Congress for laws to finish the specter of a national strike on terms more favorable to staff.”
Sawyer added of Biden: “Sadly, he couldn’t bring himself to advocate for a lousy handful of sick days. The Democrats and Republicans are each pawns of massive business and the firms.”
The House of Representatives approved the bill Wednesday in a 290-137 vote, with all but eight mostly left-wing Democrats joining 79 GOP dissenters. The Senate passed it 80-15 on Thursday, with 10 Republicans, 4 Democrats and socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (i-Vt.) opposed.
The House passed a separate bill granting union staff seven days of paid sick leave annually, but that proposal flopped within the Senate as a consequence of the 60-vote threshold required for many bills.
Biden testily defended his actions to stomp out employee dissent when asked about laws at a Thursday afternoon press conference with visiting French President Emmanuel Macron.
“Why didn’t you negotiate for [paid sick days] whenever you were helping to barter that contract that you simply now want Congress to impose?” asked NPR reporter Tamara Keith.
“I really like you guys. I negotiated a contract nobody else could negotiate,” Biden shot back. “The one thing that was not noted was whether or not it was paid leave.”
The president proceeded to inflate among the details within the pact — incorrectly claiming it could give staff a “43-45%” pay raise when in truth raises can be 24%, and claiming that “13 or 14” unions were involved with only 4 dissenters, when in truth it was 12.
The labor deal also gives staff $5,000 bonuses retroactive to 2020 — meaning the typical worker could get a direct payout of $11,000.
Employees would receive a further day of paid leave per yr in addition to unpaid break day for doctor’s appointments and medical procedures, while worker medical insurance premiums can be capped at 15% of the overall plan cost.
Some Republican opponents of the laws described the impasse as a possibility to re-cast the Republican Party because the champion of staff, somewhat than long-time union-affiliated Democrats like Biden.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who aligns with former President Donald Trump’s economic populism, said Thursday, “Today the Senate had a probability to rise up for railroad staff who often risk their lives and health on the job, just attempting to support their families. As an alternative, the Senate sided with Joe Biden.”
“Employees were asking for a handful of sick days per yr. Biden and the Senate said no. I’d wish to know the way most of the White House staff, and what number of members of Congress and their staff, are still ‘working remotely’ [due to COVID-19],” Hawley sniped.
“This was the White House and management and union bosses teaming up to make use of federal law to force staff to simply accept contracts they rejected in negotiations. After which people in DC wonder why working Americans think the system is rigged.”
In 1992, Biden was considered one of just six senators to vote against organising an arbitration system to finish a rail strike, which Congress is empowered to do by the federal Railway Labor Act of 1926. Biden argued previously that such laws unfairly undermines union collective bargaining efforts.
WASHINGTON — President Biden signed laws Friday forcing railway unions to simply accept a labor agreement despite employee objections to an absence of paid sick days — hours before hobnobbing with visiting British royals.
Biden frequently calls himself the “most pro-union president” in history but asked Congress to intervene Monday, saying the US economy couldn’t bear a railway shutdown.
The president will meet Friday afternoon in Boston with Prince William, the heir to the UK crown, and his wife Kate Middleton — creating awkward optics after the president also hosted billionaires and Hollywood stars Thursday night for a lux state dinner on the White House lawn.
“The bill I’m about to sign ends a difficult rail dispute and helps our nation avoid what for sure would have been an economic catastrophe at a really bad time on the calendar,” Biden said before inking his signature.
“A rail shutdown would have devastated our economy. Without freight rail, most of the US industries will literally shut down,” Biden said. “My economic advisors report that as many as 765,000 Americans … would have been put out of labor … throughout the first two weeks of the strike.”
“Look, I do know this bill doesn’t have paid sick leave that these rail staff and albeit every employee in America deserves. But that fight isn’t over,” the president said, almost apologetically.
The rail laws easily cleared the House and Senate this week with bipartisan support, though members of each parties also said it was fallacious for Biden to override attempts by unions for a greater deal ahead of a Dec. 9 deadline.
Biden announced the controversial package within the White House Rose Garden in September after his deputies brokered it following all-night talks between railway management and representatives of 12 unions.
But members of 4 of those unions later voted to reject the cut price, citing a continued lack of sick days.
Among the roughly 115,000 impacted rail staff trashed Biden for snuffing out their complaints.
“Joe Biden blew it,” Railroad Employees Union treasurer Hugh Sawyer said Monday. “He had the chance to prove his labor-friendly pedigree to thousands and thousands of staff by simply asking Congress for laws to finish the specter of a national strike on terms more favorable to staff.”
Sawyer added of Biden: “Sadly, he couldn’t bring himself to advocate for a lousy handful of sick days. The Democrats and Republicans are each pawns of massive business and the firms.”
The House of Representatives approved the bill Wednesday in a 290-137 vote, with all but eight mostly left-wing Democrats joining 79 GOP dissenters. The Senate passed it 80-15 on Thursday, with 10 Republicans, 4 Democrats and socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (i-Vt.) opposed.
The House passed a separate bill granting union staff seven days of paid sick leave annually, but that proposal flopped within the Senate as a consequence of the 60-vote threshold required for many bills.
Biden testily defended his actions to stomp out employee dissent when asked about laws at a Thursday afternoon press conference with visiting French President Emmanuel Macron.
“Why didn’t you negotiate for [paid sick days] whenever you were helping to barter that contract that you simply now want Congress to impose?” asked NPR reporter Tamara Keith.
“I really like you guys. I negotiated a contract nobody else could negotiate,” Biden shot back. “The one thing that was not noted was whether or not it was paid leave.”
The president proceeded to inflate among the details within the pact — incorrectly claiming it could give staff a “43-45%” pay raise when in truth raises can be 24%, and claiming that “13 or 14” unions were involved with only 4 dissenters, when in truth it was 12.
The labor deal also gives staff $5,000 bonuses retroactive to 2020 — meaning the typical worker could get a direct payout of $11,000.
Employees would receive a further day of paid leave per yr in addition to unpaid break day for doctor’s appointments and medical procedures, while worker medical insurance premiums can be capped at 15% of the overall plan cost.
Some Republican opponents of the laws described the impasse as a possibility to re-cast the Republican Party because the champion of staff, somewhat than long-time union-affiliated Democrats like Biden.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who aligns with former President Donald Trump’s economic populism, said Thursday, “Today the Senate had a probability to rise up for railroad staff who often risk their lives and health on the job, just attempting to support their families. As an alternative, the Senate sided with Joe Biden.”
“Employees were asking for a handful of sick days per yr. Biden and the Senate said no. I’d wish to know the way most of the White House staff, and what number of members of Congress and their staff, are still ‘working remotely’ [due to COVID-19],” Hawley sniped.
“This was the White House and management and union bosses teaming up to make use of federal law to force staff to simply accept contracts they rejected in negotiations. After which people in DC wonder why working Americans think the system is rigged.”
In 1992, Biden was considered one of just six senators to vote against organising an arbitration system to finish a rail strike, which Congress is empowered to do by the federal Railway Labor Act of 1926. Biden argued previously that such laws unfairly undermines union collective bargaining efforts.
