CRISIS Averted? Biden Announces ‘Tentative’ New Deal
(UnitedVoice.com) – In the 1800s, railroad barons built an extensive network of railways that crossed the country. Nearly 200 years later, it’s still a main transportation avenue for companies to deliver goods. Those deliveries almost ground to a halt and destroyed the supply chain recently.
Fortunately, President Joe Biden recently announced a tentative agreement that has allowed the country to avoid disaster.
Disagreements
At the White House on Thursday, September 15, Biden claimed a breakthrough had come just hours before a workers’ strike would have begun. Rail companies and unions have been in heated contract negotiations for weeks. Tens of thousands of workers expected to strike on Friday if representatives couldn’t reach an agreement. Unions representing those employees agreed they would take no action while a ratification vote on the deal takes place.
The disagreement between the companies and workers centered around two main points. The rail lines refused to agree to the unions’ requests asking for personal time for workers to attend to health or legal matters without jeopardizing their jobs. Additionally, laborers complained that the corporations often scheduled them for long shifts without speaking to or notifying them in advance. The short notice made it unnecessarily difficult for the workers.
A rail strike could have cost $2 billion per day. With the midterm elections right around the corner, the last thing the president wanted to see was a fight that would have caused unbelievable damage to the US economy.
Agreement Reached
The Association of American Railroads released a statement explaining the parameters of the salary hike in the tentative agreement. The new contracts will give workers a 24% wage increase from 2020 through 2024. An immediate payout for backdated pay averaging $11,000 would occur after the deal’s ratification.
According to The New York Times, the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen said the agreement will freeze workers’ monthly contributions to their health care policies, so those costs don’t increase while they are continuing to negotiate another round of deals. Rail workers can also go to the doctors without suffering penalties and receive an additional paid discretionary day.
The agreement goes before a vote among union members. It’s unclear when unions might ratify the deal.
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