What is the rail strike about?

Rail union leaders and carriers agreed to a tentative deal in September that included pay raises for members. But many union workers voted against the deal, in part because they have been pushing for paid sick days, which they currently do not receive. There is also widespread dissatisfaction over a grueling scheduling model that they say has taken a toll on their mental and physical well-being. One of the largest rail unions, SMART Transportation Division, announced earlier this month that its members had voted down the tentative deal . Three smaller unions also rejected the contract. Together, the four unions represent more than half of the unionized rail workers. A strike could have occurred as soon as Dec. 9. If one union strikes, all probably would walk out in solidarity.

What do the rail workers want?

A crucial issue in the dispute is a points-based attendance policy adopted by some of the largest carriers earlier this year. Those policies penalize workers, up to termination, for going to routine doctor’s visits or tending to family emergencies. Conductors and engineers say they can be on call for 14 consecutive days without a break and that they do not receive a single sick day, paid or unpaid. Rail carriers have said their employees can take time off when they are sick by using paid vacation days, but some unions have said their members are typically asked to schedule time off months in advance. The tentative deal does not include any sick days. It does include one paid personal day that needs to be scheduled in advance, and some workers would have the ability to call out of work three times a year for doctor’s appointments, which would also need to be scheduled. “The biggest thing we wanted is sick days,” Steve Sample, 54, a rail maintainer in northern Ohio who voted against the agreement, told The Washington Post. “We get one personal day.”

How could Congress intervene?

Congress can vote to force the rail carriers and unions to adopt the tentative deal. U.S. union members generally have the right to go on strike to pressure companies to offer strong contracts. But the Railway Labor Act of 1926 imposed barriers to such walkouts, including intervention mechanisms from Congress, given the potential economic effects of these work stoppages. The House passed a bill to force the adoption of the tentative deal and a separate measure to add seven days of paid sick leave to the agreement. The Senate passed the bill compelling unions to accept the deal brokered by the White House, but the addition of sick days did not get enough senators’ votes to pass. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) had said Tuesday that he would not allow the chamber to proceed unless he could hold a vote on adding paid sick leave to the deal.

What’s included in the tentative deal?

The contract offer includes “better pay, improved working conditions,” Biden said in a statement when it was announced, as well as peace of mind for workers around their health-care costs. Attendance policies that penalize workers for taking time off had become a sticking point for many workers. The tentative deal included some increased flexibility in this area but workers say much of a points-based attendance policy that could penalize them for missing work for family emergencies or doctor’s appointments was left in place. It also included what would have been the biggest pay increases seen in decades. Wages were set to jump 24 percent by 2024 — which included an immediate 14 percent bump — bringing the average pay to $110,000 a year. They’d also get $1,000 bonuses annually for five years, and would not have to absorb higher health-care deductibles or co-pays.

Would a rail strike affect Amtrak?

In September, the threat of a strike prompted Amtrak to cancel service on some long-distance routes. After the deal was brokered, the company worked to restore trains and rebook customers. A strike could be especially disruptive for commuter lines that run between major cities and suburbs because those routes often operate on freight tracks, which would not be available to passenger trains. Workers who rely on the Washington region’s commuter lines in Virginia and Maryland would possibly experience outages.

What would happen in a shutdown?

In addition to rattling commutes and spoiling cross-country travel for thousands of Americans, a walkout could deal a major blow to the economy. A strike would shut down nearly a third of the country’s freight, industry players have warned. A freight railroad shutdown could “devastate” Amtrak operations, according to the Association of American Railroads. About half of commuter rail systems run at least partially on tracks or rights of way owned by freight railroads. A stoppage also would have significant implications for retailers, which rely on freight rails to transport inventory from ports to warehouses and distribution centers. Such a scenario could have a domino effect — retailers would miss their shipping and pickup dates, leaving cargo in limbo without a place to go, according to Jonathan Gold, vice president of supply chains and customs policy at the National Retail Federation. “It adds to the ongoing congestion that we’re facing within the supply chain,” he said. “And that all adds additional costs that folks haven’t planned for.” While scrambling to strike a deal, the Biden administration was pursuing contingency plans to ensure key products carried by rail — including food, energy and health products — would reach their final destinations.

When was the last rail strike in the United States?

The last industry strike took place in 1992, when railroad workers with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers walked off the job. In response, most of the country’s freight railroads shut down, forcing Congress to pass legislation imposing a new contract on workers. President George H.W. Bush at the time said that the strike “ought to end the day it begins.” The ramifications of the shutdown were so severe that Congress intervened after just three days to ban strikes and lockouts. Railroad strikes have long played a significant role in American history. A century ago, a railroad strike could effectively shut down the nation. Railroad strikes set the standard for such ubiquitous working conditions as the eight-hour workday, said Nelson Lichtenstein, a labor historian at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Business

What you need to know about the threat of a rail strike and Congress

A strike could start as soon as Dec. 9 if not averted

By Rachel Lerman

Lauren Kaori Gurley

Hamza Shaban

and

Jaclyn Peiser

Updated November 30, 2022 at 1:26 p.m. EST|Published November 30, 2022 at 1:07 p.m. EST

Activists in support of unionized rail workers protest outside the U.S. Capitol Building on Tuesday in Washington. President Biden has called on Congress to pass legislation averting a railroad shutdown ahead of the Dec. 9 strike date. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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The Senate voted Thursday to force a contract between rail workers and carriers, a controversial move that lawmakers in both chambers adopted to avert a rail strike.

The bill passed the House on Wednesday, and it will now go to President Biden’s desk. The House also passed a separate bill that would give rail workers seven paid sick days, but the Senate did not pass the measure.

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A walkout would have caused major economic disruption during the busy holiday season.

Freight railroad companies and their affiliated unions had been locked in a dispute over pay and working conditions for months, but the threat of a strike eased in September after President Biden announced a “tentative” deal had been reached. But then several rail unions rejected the White House-brokered contract offer in recent weeks, bringing the fear of a strike to the forefront.

Biden called on Congress on Monday to impose the tentative deal to avoid the strike. This plan faced pushback from some rail workers, who are pushing for a contract to include paid sick days.

“From a timing standpoint, what we need to do right now is avoid the strike,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Tuesday after meeting with Biden and congressional leaders.

A strike would affect not only commuters who rely on the railway to get to work but also the nation’s energy supply and drinking water.

Here’s what you need to know about the dispute.