The Senate passed laws that might force a tentative rail labor agreement and thwart a national strike.
A separate vote on adding seven days of paid sick leave to the agreement failed.
The approved bill, passed by a vote of 80 to fifteen, now goes to President Joe Biden, who had urged Congress to act quickly before this month’s strike deadline and “send a bill to my desk for my signature immediately.” The measures come after talks had stalled between the railroads and 4 unions, which had previously rejected the agreement.
Biden has said he was reluctant to override the vote against the contract by some unions but stressed that a rail shutdown would “devastate” the economy. Labor groups have said that enforcing an agreement with the laws denies them the fitting to strike.
An aerial view of shipping containers and freight railway trains on the BNSF Los Angeles Intermodal Facility rail yard in Los Angeles, California, September 15, 2022.
Bing Guan | Reuters
In an announcement after the Senate vote, Biden said he would sign the bill into law “as soon as Congress sends it to my desk.”
“I do know that many in Congress shared my reluctance to override the union ratification procedures. But on this case, the results of a shutdown were just too great for working families all across the country,” Biden said within the statement.
The laws, which was approved by the House on Wednesday, enacts recent contracts providing railroad staff with 24% pay increases over five years from 2020 through 2024, immediate payouts averaging $11,000 upon ratification and an additional paid time off.
The House on Wednesday approved a separate measure that might have added seven days of paid sick leave to the contract as an alternative of only one. That measure was defeated within the Senate vote. Paid sick leave has been the principal point of disagreement during negotiations between railroads and the unions.
Jeremy Ferguson, president of SMART-TD, told CNBC there’s growing concern that some rail staff will quit after receiving their backpay without guaranteed paid sick time.
“I keep hearing that some are going to do this. It is often a possibility,” he said. “I hope that does not occur. I need every member to remain employed and luxuriate in all the advantages that we do have and we’re going to need more employees if we will have adequate time without work.”
The parties had until Dec. 9 to succeed in an agreement before staff promised a strike, which the industry estimated would cost the U.S. economy $2 billion per day. Without an agreement, rail movement of certain goods was set to be curtailed as soon as this weekend in preparation for the strike.
