Rail Unions Turn on ‘Proud Pro-Labor President’ Biden After He Asks Congress to Block Strike

President Joe Biden in Bay City, Mich., on Nov. 29, 2022. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

Railroad workers and their union leaders have criticized President Joe Biden’s call for Congress to block a planned strike from going ahead amid concerns over the U.S. economy.

Biden warned on Monday that a rail shutdown would “devastate” the economy, while up to 765,000 Americans—many union workers themselves—“could be put out of work in the first two weeks alone.”

The president asked Congress to intervene and adopt a tentative deal brokered by the White House in September using its power to do so under the Railway Labor Act, which governs disputes between railway carriers and labor unions.

Union leaders have condemned the move from Biden, who pegged himself as a “proud pro-labor president” in a statement on Monday.

“Joe Biden blew it. He had the opportunity to prove his labor-friendly pedigree to millions of workers by simply asking Congress for legislation to end the threat of a national strike on terms more favorable to workers,” Hugh Sawyer, treasurer of the Railroad Workers United, said in a statement on Nov. 29.

Freight trains travel through Houston, Texas, on Sept. 14, 2022. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

‘Not Enough to Share Worker Concerns’

“Sadly, he could not bring himself to advocate for a lousy handful of sick days. The Democrats and Republicans are both pawns of big business and the corporations,” Sawyer added.

Elsewhere, The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division, the third-largest rail union in the United States, said in a statement on Tuesday that it is “deeply disappointed by and disagrees” with Biden’s decision to ask Congress to intervene, pointing to the tentative agreement’s lack of paid sick days for railroad workers.

“It is not enough to ’share workers’ concerns.' A call to Congress to act immediately to pass legislation that adopts tentative agreements that exclude paid sick leave ignores the railroad workers’ concerns,” the union wrote. “It both denies railroad workers their right to strike while also denying them of the benefit they would likely otherwise obtain if they were not denied their right to strike. ”

The Brotherhood union represents roughly 23,000 railroad maintenance workers.

“Additionally, passing legislation to adopt tentative agreements that exclude paid sick leave for railroad workers will not address rail service issues.  Rather, it will worsen supply-chain issues and further sicken, infuriate, and disenfranchise railroad workers as they continue shouldering the burdens of the railroads’ mismanagement,” the union added.

A BNSF engine pulls Metra commuter train cars at the Metra/BNSF railroad yard outside of downtown Chicago, Ill., on Sept. 13, 2022. Scott Olson/Getty Images

‘Congress Must Stand With Rail Workers’

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) also weighed in on Biden’s request to Congress, writing on Twitter on Monday: “Last year, the rail industry made a record-breaking $20 billion in profits after cutting their workforce by 30 percent over the last six years. Meanwhile, rail workers have ZERO guaranteed paid sick days. Congress must stand with rail workers.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said lawmakers plan to vote on legislation that would implement the agreement reached in September on Wednesday amid concerns over how a strike could impact the economy.

Under that agreement, workers would receive a 24 percent pay raise over five years and five annual $1,000 lump-sum payments retroactive to 2020, along with improved health care benefits, marking one of the biggest raises rail workers have received in more than four decades.

The agreement also includes an additional day of paid leave per year as well as unpaid time off for medical needs.

While eight unions have agreed to the deal, four unions, which collectively represent more than half of the 115,000 workers in the industry, have not. They are instead pushing for paid sick leave to be added to the agreement, while pointing to demanding schedules for workers that have yet to be resolved.

The unions plan to go on strike if an agreement can’t be reached before the deadline of Dec. 9, which experts say could inflict billions’ worth of damage on the U.S. economy.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.