Senate Votes To Avert Costly Rail Strike

By The Hill
Posted on 12/01/22 | News Source: The Hill

The Senate voted Thursday to avert a costly nationwide rail strike next week that lawmakers in both parties worried would shut down much of the economy and further add to inflation.  

Senators voted 80 to 15 for a House-passed bill to implement the labor agreement between freight rail carriers and unionized workers brokered by an emergency board President Biden established in July.  

But senators rejected a proposal to add seven days of paid sick leave to the agreement, which four rail unions demanded.  

By intervening, Congress will avert the threat of a national rail shutdown that would have ravaged supply chains and brought significant portions of the economy to a halt in the middle of the holidays.  

Roughly one-third of U.S. cargo is transported by rail and truckers would not be able to take on more capacity.  

But the outcome will likely enrage rail workers who argued that railroad executives were refusing to meet their demands because they knew Congress would step in and block a strike. 

The proposal to add sick leave to the tentative labor deal, which passed the House narrowly on Wednesday, failed on the Senate floor