The Biden administration has been attempting to avert a probable railroad labor stoppage that could begin on Friday night and cost the U.S. economy at least $2 billion per day in lost productivity, potentially triggering a new supply chain crisis.
According to a White House official, President Joe Biden has personally spoken with two railroad unions and train businesses to prevent a strike. Bloomberg was the first to report the president’s conversations. The insider noted that Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack are also involved in the negotiations.
Earlier on Monday, a White House official said the parties are still “working to resolve outstanding issues and reach an agreement,” and the White House urged the parties to continue negotiating “promptly and in good faith.” The official called a shutdown of the freight rail system “an unacceptable outcome for our economy and the American people” and said the administration “has made that clear emphatically and repeatedly to all parties.”
Here is the crux of the disagreement between railroad businesses and unions.
What does it all mean?
Approximately a dozen unions represent the employees of major national railroads such as BNSF, Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, and CSX. Two unions, SMART and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), have not reached an agreement with the railways. The remaining unions are IBEW and Teamsters. Together, they account for fifty percent of railroad union personnel.
According to workers, railroad crews who take time off for medical appointments and bereavement-related absences are subject to termination and other forms of penalties. The railroads, on the other hand, assert that staff have been calling out too frequently to attend long weekends, athletic events, and concerts, and that the new points-based attendance regulations they have lately implemented are required to preserve customer service.
What has already transpired?
In accordance with the provisions of the century-old Railway Labor Act, President Biden convened an Emergency Board in July to investigate the issue and provide recommendations. Friday marks the end of a 60-day “cooling off” period caused by Mr. Biden’s action.
The board recommended a 24% overall pay rise for union staff last month, but rejected unions’ objections regarding attendance standards. The majority of unions agreed with the proposals and achieved settlements with the railroads along those lines, although SMART and BLET did not. According to these two unions, if their members were asked to vote on such an agreement, it would fail.
“Our members are being sacked for becoming ill or for attending ordinary medical appointments as we crawl out of a global pandemic,” SMART said in a statement released on Sunday. No working-class American should be subjected to this amount of workplace harassment for being ill or going to a regular doctor’s appointment. The workers do not receive sick pay, but long-term employees receive up to five weeks of vacation and fourteen paid holidays.
What might occur next?
If the two unions and the railroads cannot reach a deal by Friday, the businesses may lock out the workers before a strike is even called. Why would they do such a thing? According to the unions, one reason would be to emphasize the harm this issue is inflicting the nation, as their trade group estimates that a government shutdown would cost the economy $2 billion each day.
Congress has taken action in the past, most recently in 1982 and 1986, to terminate railroad strikes. The procedure would be straightforward. Both houses may vote, and the president would sign, a joint resolution implementing the recommendations of the Presidential Emergency Board, which the firms find acceptable. Already, the U.S. Chamber of Congress has encouraged Congress to be on standby and prepared to interfere.
Mr. Biden and House Democrats are placed in an uncomfortable position by this scenario. Democrats are eager to support labor unions, but the president’s emergency board rejected the workers’ concerns that they should not be subject to new attendance regulations based on points.
In theory, Congress could also approve a legislation mandating a new “cooling-off” period to provide for additional time to negotiate prior to strikes or lockouts.
Bo Erickson and Ed O’Keefe contributed to this story.