WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st December, 2022) The Senate should immediately adopt the House of Representatives-passed resolution to avoid a nationwide rail strike in the United States, but it should not consider legislation that would disrupt progress made on a tentative agreement reached between most rail unions and operators, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) said.
Earlier on Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed a joint resolution to try to avert a nationwide rail strike that could start next month, with most opposition coming from Republican members. The chamber also passed a concurrent resolution to ensure the deal to avoid a strike provides for seven days of paid sick leave annually.
"Today, the House of Representatives approved legislation to implement neutrally arbitrated tentative agreements reached with the remaining unions and avert an economically devastating strike. On the heels of that bipartisan vote, the House then narrowly passed a partisan resolution to insert itself between the parties undermining longstanding bargaining principles and compromising future negotiations not just for the freight rail industry but Amtrak and the airlines as well," AAR said in a press release on Wednesday.
US railroads are calling on the Senate to swiftly implement the tentative agreements and reject Senator Bernie Sanders' push to add terms to the contract beyond the scope of the Biden Presidential Emergency board recommendations.
AAR President and CEO Ian Jefferies warned that any effort by Congress to intervene in the bargaining scale to artificially advantage either party, or otherwise obstruct a swift resolution, would be irresponsible and risk a timely outcome to avoid a potential strike that may cost the US economy $2 billion per day.
On Tuesday, US Senator Bernie Sanders said he would block any measure to avoid the rail strike without a vote on guaranteeing paid sick leave.
Jefferies said the Senate must act quickly to implement the deals reached at the bargaining table and already ratified by eight of 12 rail unions.
President Joe Biden has also been urging the Senate to act quickly to pass the House-passed resolution to avert a nationwide rail strike, warning that without Congress acting promptly this week, the railroads will begin to halt the movement of critical materials in the United States as soon as this weekend.
Eight of the 12 labor unions plus a portion of one of the largest US rail unions, SMART-TD, have now fully agreed to contracts forged in part by the leadership of the Biden administration. These deals provide employees with a 24% wage increase over the five-year period from 2020 to 2024 and preserve employees' health care coverage, according to the AAR.
