Congressional leaders in the United States have expressed support for an immediate end to a strike by railroad workers that could cause chaos in the US economy.
Speaking at the White House after a meeting with President Joe Biden on Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the leaders of his Democratic Party and Republicans support turning to the rarely used legislative powers to resolve the union dispute.
Mr Biden warned on Monday of the economic fallout if rail operations were to be halted, saying 765,000 Americans “could be out of a job in just two weeks”.
At Tuesday’s meeting at the White House, the president was asked if he was confident he would stop the railroad boycott and he replied: “I’m confident.”
“All four of us agreed to end this rail shutdown as quickly as possible,” Schumer said, adding that senior Republican Senator Mitch McConnell “agreed to try to get this done ASAP”.
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, said the lower house will vote on Wednesday to force the unions to accept a contract to stop boycotts. Then it went to the Senate.
A strike by freight train workers, who are vital to the US, is expected to begin on December 9 unless Congress intervenes. Lawmakers have been pushing to keep the public from expecting to approve an initial September deal on a multi-union pay scale.
Workers in four railroad unions rejected the deal after criticizing the lack of sick leave, while workers in eight unions accepted it.
A rail shutdown could stop about 30 percent of US goods by weight, increase inflation and cost the country’s economy up to $2bn a day in transportation problems that affect energy, agriculture, manufacturing, health care and commerce. parts.
Association of American Railroads CEO Ian Jefferies said: “Congress acted quickly on two fronts and that’s our goal as we stand here today.”
Labor unions have criticized the railroad’s sick and absenteeism policies and the lack of short-term paid sick days. No sick days are paid under the probation agreement. Unions asked for 15 sick days and the railroads settled for one day.
The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division of the Teamsters strongly criticized Biden’s call to Congress to intervene, saying “a railroad is no place to work when you’re sick. It’s dangerous… it’s unwise and unfair to force someone to do a difficult job like that.” He is not feeling well.”
On Monday, more than 400 groups asked Congress to intervene in the railroad’s labor crisis. Biden praised the deal, which includes a 24% increase in wages over five years from 2020 to 2024 and five annual payments of $1,000.
Mr Biden called a White House meeting to discuss the “lame duck” session of Congress in January when Republicans take control of the House of Representatives, after narrowly winning the November mid-term elections. Democrats will have a very small majority in the Senate.
The White House said Biden and coalition leaders also discussed saving the U.S. government and unprecedented military aid to Ukraine in the fight against Russian aggression.
Biden, who faces the next two years of his first term with Republicans blocking his legislation in the House, offered the olive branch, according to the White House.
He told his “republican colleagues that whatever disagreements they may have, they are always interested in finding common ground, and that they have an open door to hearing their ideas,” he said.
