Biden signs legislation to prevent railroad strike, avert ‘economic catastrophe’

Watch Live: Biden signs railroad legislation to avert strike
UPI

Dec. 2 (UPI) — President Joe Biden signed legislation on Friday that would avert a national railroad strike in the middle of the critical holiday season, but the measure did not include improved sick pay measures some union workers had wanted.

Risking alienating union support that has been part of Biden political base, the president said he signed the legislation to avoid “an economic catastrophe at a very bad time in the calendar.”

“The rail system is literally the backbone of our supply chain … and so much of what we rely on is delivered on our rail,” Biden said. “A rail shutdown would have devastated our economy. … [With the bill], we spared the country that catastrophe.”

Biden touted the nearly 25% wage increase rail workers will receive with the contract and also acknowledged the lack of sick leave provisions that led to it being rejected by four unions.

“I know this bill doesn’t have paid sick leave, that these rail workers and frankly every American worker deserves,” Biden said. “But that fight isn’t over. I didn’t commit that we would stop just because we couldn’t get it in this bill. I’ve supported paid sick leave for a long time. I will continue that fight until we succeed.”

Biden touted the latest job figures released Friday by the Labor Department that said the economy added 263,000 to its payrolls in November and that wages increased. He said, though, that progress could have been threatened with a rail strike. He said hundreds would have lost their jobs in the first two weeks of the strike right before Christmas.

The measure, passed by the Senate overwhelmingly on Thursday, requires railroad workers and companies to adhere to a tentative agreement that was brokered by the Biden administration earlier this year.

The House passed a bill on Wednesday in an effort to quickly end the threat of a strike that could have crippled many industries during their most profitable time annually.

Union leaders and the companies had signed off on the agreement but four of the 12 unions rejected the deal over the sick pay issues.

The Teamsters affiliated rail union BMWED-IBT urged its members to contact U.S. senators to demand they pass another version of the House bill that did include the sick leave provisions they wanted.

Such a strike would have cost the U.S. economy an estimated $2 billion per day. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who caucuses with the Democrats, previously expressed his intent to hold up the legislation if it didn’t mandate seven paid sick days for railroad workers.

Biden had said, though, a strike would have sunk the U.S. economy, causing roughly 750,000 job losses as the work stoppage ruptured supply chains for basic goods, food and the chemicals needed to ensure clean drinking water.

The five-year deal hammered out by the administration, the union heads and the railroad owners guaranteed 24% raises that are retroactive to 2020 and improved working conditions among other perks.

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