Biden At Loggerheads With Rail Unions As Strike Looms

[Webster]

(The Guardian) Biden at loggerheads with unions over push to stop rail strike
Joe Biden has urged the US Congress to intervene to prevent the rail strike that is looming across America and could bring passenger and freight trains screeching to a halt as early as next week.

The US president warns that a rail strike will put more than three quarters of a million Americans out of work very quickly – and one expert analysis estimates it would cost the economy $1bn in the first week.

But asking Congress to force through a tentative agreement reached in September that’s supported by some – but very much not by all – the rail unions involved puts him at loggerheads with organized labor in the US.

That goes sharply against his track record as a vociferous supporter of unions through thick and thin over decades and a reputation as perhaps the most pro-labor president in US history.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will support action from Congress, to avert strikes from December 9, while House majority leader Chuck Schumer has not placed his cards down yet. Labor secretary Marty Walsh helped mediate negotiations between rail companies and unions earlier in the fall. Four key unions refused to sign up.

Will Vermont’s socialist and independent US Senator Bernie Sanders, who caucuses with the Democrats, support a government-imposed resolution?

 

[Webster]

(The Guardian) Workers in four unions, including the largest, have rejected the tentative rail industry deal, while workers in eight unions have approved it, Reuters’ reporting continues.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack have been involved in discussions with the rail industry, unions and agriculture industry stakeholders.

Senator Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the commerce committee, praised Biden’s call to Congress to act and said no one side was fully happy with the compromise contract deal “but the responsible thing to do is avoid the strike.”

The Association of American Railroads said “congressional action to prevent a work stoppage in this manner is appropriate ... No one benefits from a rail work stoppage – not our customers, not rail employees and not the American economy.”

In a letter yesterday, the US Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers, National Retail Federation, American Petroleum Institute, National Restaurant Association, American Trucking Associations and other groups warned that impacts of a potential strike could be felt as soon as 5 December. Biden said Congress Should set aside politics and partisan division and deliver for the American people. Congress should get this bill to my desk well in advance of December 9th so we can avoid disruption.”

The letter to congressional leaders, first reported by Reuters, warned that a strike could halt passenger railroad Amtrak and commuter rail services that “would disrupt up to 7 million travelers a day”. It added: The risks to our nation’s economy and communities simply make a national rail strike unacceptable.”

Biden’s Presidential Emergency Board in August released the framework for the tentative deal forged in September between major railroads and a dozen unions representing 115,000 workers. Those carriers include Union Pacific, Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern and Kansas City Southern. Unions and railroads have until Dec. 9 to resolve differences. If they do not, workers could strike or railroads could lock out employees - unless Congress intervenes. But railroads would halt hazardous materials shipments at least four days ahead of a strike deadline.

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

I’m sure Brandon wrote that 😂 come on man!

 

[Webster]

I’m sure Brandon wrote that 😂 come on man!

Your of your state's senators is rooting for the rail workers; could it be a love or workers/unions OR an opportunity to screw over Biden?

🤔 🤔 🤔

 

[Webster]

(The Guardian) Talking up labor unions as a senator or a candidate or when you’re president and opening a factory is one thing but facing a national rail strike as the festive seasons looms is quite another – especially for Joe Biden. Here’s some interesting perspective directly from Politico. The outlet writes in this morning’s, Politico Playbook dispatch from the front lines in Washington: In 1992, two days into a crippling railroad strike, then-Senator Joe Biden came to the Senate floor and decried the lopsided nature of federal labor laws dealing with the rail industry – laws, he argued, that essentially allowed corporations, regulators and, ultimately, Congress to run roughshod over workers.

“We need to restore a measure of balance to these negotiations,” he said, before voting with just five other senators against halting the strike.

Thirty years later, as president, Biden is turning to those very same laws to prevent another strike and impose a tentative contract agreement that his administration brokered but multiple rail unions voted to reject.

“As a proud pro-labor president, I am reluctant to override the ratification procedures and the views of those who voted against the agreement,” the president said in a statement. “But in this case – where the economic impact of a shutdown would hurt millions of other working people and families – I believe Congress must use its powers to adopt this deal.”

Translation: It’s a lot easier to be “Union Joe” as one senator among 100 than it is as president of the United States – especially during holiday shopping season and a persistent bout of inflation.

People familiar with the process told us last night that Biden and his advisers determined that the risk to the economy was just too great. A strike would disrupt supply chains – including such critical goods as motor fuels and water treatment chemicals – and could ultimately cost the U.S. economy $1 billion within a week, according to analysis from the Anderson Economic Group …

… Until Monday, administration officials remained engaged in resolving the dispute. But Biden [he was advised by Cabinet folks that] there is no path to resolve the dispute at the bargaining table and recommended he ask Congress to impose the September deal …

… One former [unnamed] labor department official told Politico: There is a sentiment among some railroad workers that they thought the president was going to absolutely battle all the way to the end to get them exactly what they wanted. He’s going to have some unhappy people. I think there’s going to be some grumbling in the labor movement.”