Railroad workers are unionized and their contract is set to expire on Dec. 9, which has prompted speculation about a possible railroad strike that could disrupt travel and cripple supply chains.
President Joe Biden and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh helped broker a tentative deal earlier this year, but four out of 12 rail unions voted against it, mostly because the proposed contract included just one single paid sick day. In their current contract, the workers have zero sick days.
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On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted on a bill to adopt the tentative contract, which passed 290-137. Many Democrats were also furious about the sick time issue, so the House also voted on Resolution 119, which would add seven days of paid sick leave to the contract. A whopping 207 Republicans voted against it. The resolution still passed with 221 votes, from 218 Democrats and a measly three Republicans.
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- The Guardian: US House approves bill to block rail strike and mandate paid sick leave. “The US president, who built a reputation on being pro-labor and put himself at loggerheads with the unions after asking Congress to avert a strike, had warned of the catastrophic impact of a rail stoppage that could begin as early as 9 December and could cost the US economy about $2bn a day by some estimates, with chaos hitting freight and passenger traffic.
On Tuesday, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, indicated they would attempt to push through a bill to impose the settlement, albeit expressing reluctance.
Workers expressed dismay at the stance of Biden and his administration.
On Wednesday, the House passed the bill to block the strike and, separately, voted 221-207 to give seven days of paid sick leave to railroad employees, a plan that faces an uncertain fate in the evenly split Senate. Democrats and some Republicans have expressed outrage over the lack of paid short-term sick leave for railroad workers.”
- New York magazine’s Intelligencer column: Why America’s Railroads Refuse to Give Their Workers Paid Leave. “Unlike nearly 80 percent of U.S. laborers, railroad employees are not currently guaranteed a single paid sick day. Rather, if such workers wish to recuperate from an illness or make time to see a doctor about a nagging complaint, they need to use vacation time, which must be requested days in advance. In other words, if a worker wants to take time off to recover from the flu, they need to notify their employer of this days before actually catching the virus. Given that workers’ contracts do not include paid psychic benefits, this is a tall order.”
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Paid sick leave was available to 79 percent of civilian workers in March 2021. “Paid sick leave was available to 79 percent of civilian workers in March 2021. Among wage categories, access to paid sick leave ranged from 95 percent of workers whose average hourly wage placed them in the top 10 percent of civilian workers, to 35 percent of those in the bottom 10 percent of all civilian workers.”
- More Perfect Union: Rail Strike by the Numbers: Railroad Profits are Soaring at Workers’ Expense. “In 2001, leading American freight carriers CSX, KC Southern, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific earned average operating margins of about 15%. That means that after accounting for all the costs associated with running a railroad (including money spent on compensation & benefits), for every $100 of revenue, investors were left with $15 of profit. Twenty years later that number has skyrocketed to over $41.”
- Fortune: A looming rail worker strike could devastate the US economy and cost $2 billion a day
- CNN Business: Railroad workers aren’t the only Americans without paid sick days. “The US does not have a national standard on paid sick leave, a rarity among industrialized nations.” It is the land of gun care and health control, after all.