Senate votes to avert rail strike

Reported by Joan McCarter for Daily Kos.

The Senate voted Thursday to force the railway unions to accept the tentative agreement they had reached with rail companies back in September and averting a potential rail strike that would have begun on Dec. 7. That vote was 80-15 with one—Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)—voting present.

The Senate failed to garner enough votes to pass an attached resolution from the House that required the companies to provide 7 days of paid sick leave to railway workers—the sticking point for labor in the contract. It failed in a 52-43 vote, not reaching the necessary 60. Having failed to secure that sick leave for workers, the Senate concluded legislative work for the week, not scheduled to come back until next Monday, late in the afternoon.

President Joe Biden pushed Democratic leadership to get this legislation passed quickly to prevent a strike that would have shut down passenger and freight rail systems, potentially costing the economy $2 billion/day. Both Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh lobbied Democratic senators ahead of the vote.

“I’m very glad that the two sides got together to avoid a shutdown which would be devastating for the American people, the American economy, and so many workers across the country,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters after that meeting. The two sides had agreed on everything but that sick leave. Out of the 12 affected unions, eight had approved the contract, and four were holding out on the leave. Had the four decided to strike, the other eight would not have crossed the picket line.

Biden vowed to “continue to fight for paid leave,” but said the contract was “so much better than anything they ever had. “I negotiated a contract no one else could negotiate,” Biden said. “The only thing that was left out was whether or not there was paid leave.”

“Working together, we have spared this country a Christmas catastrophe in our grocery stores, in our workplaces, and in our communities,” Biden said following the vote. “I know that many in Congress shared my reluctance to override the union ratification procedures. But in this case, the consequences of a shutdown were just too great for working families all across the country.”

The Senate held three votes on the legislation. The first was from Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), which would have extended the “cooling off period” of negotiating between the two sides for another 60 days. The Transportation Trades Department, an umbrella union group for the AFL-CIO, opposed that proposal, saying, “Freight railroads have made it clear that they are not interested in further negotiations with rail unions. Thus, any proposal to further extend the cooling off period would yield zero progress.” That failed 25-70.

True to their word, a handful of Republican senators did vote with Democrats on the leave resolution, including Sens. Ted Cruz (TX), Lindsey Graham (SC), Josh Hawley (MO), and Marco Rubio (FL). Sen. Joe Manchin (WV) was the only Democrat to oppose the leave proposal.