The Senate today passed a resolution from the House by a margin of 80-15 to adopt the tentative agreement that railroads and unions negotiated in September under the supervision of the White House. It will now go to President Biden for his signature.
In the absence of a deal, a nationwide freight-rail shutdown due to a strike or lockout would have been possible starting December 9. With passage of the resolution, the labor agreement based on the independent recommendations of the presidential emergency board, plus a few concessions on sick leave from the deal brokered by Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh in September, will become the new national freight-rail labor contract once Biden signs it.
Railroads would have begun to shutter some services as early as this weekend in the absence of a deal. Sectors such as agriculture, energy, and raw materials are especially dependent on rail service. Consumer goods and some passenger routes would have been affected as well.
The contract is for the period from the start of 2020 through the end of 2024. Since much of that time is already elapsed, workers will immediately receive the pay raises they should have received in the past. The deal includes a 24 percent pay raise over the five-year period — the largest in the history of national bargaining — and $1,000 annual bonuses. It also preserves the status quo on health benefits, which railroads had sought to change. Rail-worker health benefits are some of the most generous of any industry in the country. Total annual average compensation for freight-rail workers in the U.S., including benefits, will rise to approximately $160,000 per year under the new contract.
Under the Railway Labor Act, Congress may force a contract to prevent a strike as a last resort after all other options are exhausted. The law was passed in 1926 after multiple national rail strikes, and it has largely been successful at preventing prolonged national strikes. Over the past three years of negotiations, mediation, and independent recommendations, unions and railroads ratified agreements with eight of the twelve unions covered by national bargaining. All twelve must ratify to prevent a strike, because non-striking unions wouldn’t cross a picket line if a strike were to occur. In view of the major economic damage that a strike would have caused and Congress’s role under the law, National Review urged Congress to act and pass the tentative agreement.
The Senate also defeated a resolution 52-43 from the House that would have added seven days paid sick leave to the national labor contract for freight-rail workers. Sixty votes were required to pass.
That concurrent resolution passed the House yesterday by a vote of 221-207, on nearly party lines with only three Republicans voting in favor. It would have amended the labor contract negotiated by the Biden administration in response to demands from organized labor to add sick days to the national contract.
Sick leave is currently negotiated at the local level, with benefits varying by employer and position. Independent recommendations from August rejected a union proposal to add 15 sick days to the national contract, calling it “overly broad and very costly.” Unions attempted to get seven days through Congress instead, but failed to secure enough support.
Six Republicans voted in favor: Josh Hawley (Mo.), Ted Cruz (Texas), John Kennedy (La.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Mike Braun (Ind.), and Marco Rubio (Fla.). Joe Manchin (W. Va.) was the only Democrat who voted against.
Cruz voted for the amendment and then fist-bumped Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), according to reports. Sanders had been leading the charge in the Senate in favor of the amendment, repeating, falsely, that rail workers currently get zero sick days.
Rubio voted for the resolution despite maintaining the position, before the vote, that Congress should not intervene in the labor dispute. Earlier today, I argued why Rubio’s position on the matter in general comes up short.
Biden is expected to sign the joint resolution soon, possibly as early as tomorrow.