That’s kinda central to his whole born-in-Scranton-PA-blue-collar-working-man charm. No matter how this ends, it’s a tough political calculus for Biden and the Democrats just weeks before the midterm elections.īiden’s a union guy. If you were anywhere in the mid-Atlantic and heard a guttural cry ring out from the direction of DC this weekend, that might have been the collective rage-screams of frustrated White House staffers who were just about to be able to take a day off after pushing through the Inflation Reduction Act and federal student loan relief. (That’s some tattoo-on-your-arm-worthy, capital-T Truth.) You could have members that could hold up legislation to demand one thing or the other…Once Congress gets involved, it’s a mess.” “You don’t know what you’re going to get.
“Quite frankly, it’s not a good sign if it ultimately goes to Congress,” one business official told Chris. They say a strike is the only way to reach a deal that can improve what they describe as intolerable working conditions.Įven businesses that would be affected by the strike aren’t too keen on Washington settling this fight.
The unions themselves are urging Congress butt out. But that would require the two parties to, like, set aside their squabbling and do some actual good for the public. At that point only Congress would be able to intervene, either by imposing a deal on the two sides or to extending the current cooling-off period. After that, Biden won’t have the power to prevent a strike. That cooling-off period is due to expire at after at 12:01 am ET Friday. Only a handful of the 12 unions have agreed to the panel’s recommendations, which include a 24% pay increase over the next five years and cash bonuses. President Biden prevented a strike two months ago by imposing a 60-day cooling-off period during which a panel he appointed looked at the disputes and offered recommendations. Employment at the nation’s major railroads is down by more than 30,000, or about 20% of the workforce, since the last contract was reached in 2017. They’re fed up with being deprived of personal time, which contributes to a high quit rate, leaving crews woefully understaffed. And in that line of work, being ready to go means being ready to literally catch a train, not just log in to send some emails from the beach. Instead, unions are battling over the rules around scheduling, which forces engineers and conductors to be “on call” seven days a week. In fact, freight railroads have thrived during the pandemic, raking in record profits. It’s also a political chess game for the Biden administration and Democrats, whose midterm election chances had just begun to improve. That could mean more empty shelves, temporary factory closures, and - of course - higher prices on consumer goods. Here’s the deal: Freight railroads have been around since the 19th century, but you can’t run a 21st century economy without them, my colleague Chris Isidore writes.Īnd right now, businesses are anxious as the unions representing more than 60,000 workers plan to walk off the job at the end of the week if they can’t secure certain quality-of-life provisions in their contracts. And railroads have already stopped accepting shipments of hazardous and other security-sensitive materials, citing concerns about the strike. Amtrak preemptively suspended service on some of its long range routes. 
It would be the first national rail strike in 30 years.Īs the clock ticks, the threat of the work stoppage is already having an impact. This Friday, tens of thousands of railroad workers are poised to go on strike, potentially bringing a nearly a third of all US freight to a grinding halt.
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