Their allotted time off — or lack thereof — is a major sticking point.
After a year marked by inflation, mass layoffs, and soaring gas prices, the financial and logistical stress of the holiday season has no doubt already looked daunting for countless Americans — and now, we might just have to throw a railroad workers’ strike into the mix, too.
For several years, railroad unions and the companies they work for have tried and failed to reach an employment agreement that made both workers and employers happy. Because of this, a railroad strike was set to begin in early December, and the stakes of this strike were so high that President Biden himself decided to intervene.
Now, Congress is working to impose legislation upon the railroad industry to force an agreement into place — but that doesn’t guarantee workers won’t try to strike anyway, if their demands aren’t met.
We’ll explainer why the railroad unions and rail companies are at odds, and how Congress plans to intervene and prevent an economically devastating, holiday-destroying,railroad strike from taking place this winter.
The disagreements at the heart of the railroad strike
At the heart of the looming rail strike are a number of concerns related to quality-of-life issues for railroad workers. The schedules in the industry are incredibly demanding, and workers have complained of their inability to take a single day off, as well as their need for paid sick leave. For engineers and conductors in particular, the grueling expectations require them to be on call 24/7.
As The Associated Press notes, these increased workloads are the result of massive job eliminations in the industry: In the last six years, one-third of rail jobs have disappeared, and the remaining workers have had to pick up the slack.
In response to these complaints by the unions, the rail companies have argued that the unions chose to forgo certain benefits (like paid sick leave) in previous negotiations in favor of higher wages and stronger disability benefits, and companies argue they can’t spend any more than they already have.
The railroad unions have been trying to negotiate a new contract for workers since 2020. Talks have stalled, and workers were originally set to go on full-blown strike on Dec. 9, pending some kind of break in the stalemate.
How Congress plans to prevent the rail strike from happening
Earlier this week, after talks between the railroads and the major industry unions had stalled, President Biden met with House and Senate leaders in an effort to see what could be done to avoid a strike. Previously, Biden had noted that a rail shutdown could “devastate” the economy, especially as we approach the holiday season.
The meeting appeared to be a success. On Wednesday, the House passed a tentative labor deal and sent it to the Senate, where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has promised it will pass quickly.
A Commerce Clause in the Constitution gives Congress the ability to intervene when an agreement cannot be made in a situation like this, and to pass legislation that sets the terms of an agreement between the two parties.
Congress is poised to do just that for the rail companies and the unions. The legislation will likely look similar to the tentative labor agreement that some (but not all) of the railroad unions reached with the rail companies in September. In that agreement, workers will receive pay increases of 25 percent, be allowed to miss work for routine appointments three times per year, and receive one additional day of personal leave per year (but not the requested number of paid sick days that they originally wanted).
Politicians speak out against a congressional intervention
While the House and Senate leaders all indicated their support for this legislation, other politicians are less than happy about it. Sen. Bernie Sanders has indicated his opposition to the legislation, tweeting his belief that it’s “unacceptable that rail workers have ZERO guaranteed paid sick days.”
Sanders wrote, “It’s my intention to block consideration of the rail legislation until a roll call vote occurs on guaranteeing 7 paid sick days to rail workers in America.”
On other side of the political aisle, Sen. Marco Rubio is equally displeased with the forced agreement. In his own tweet, Rubio said, “The railways & workers should go back & negotiate a deal that the workers, not just the union bosses, will accept But if Congress is forced to do it, I will not vote to impose a deal that doesn’t have the support of the rail workers.”
Biden’s reputation as a union man is now under threat
Adding to the complexity of this issue is Biden’s reputation as a union man. The president is famous for his support of workers’ rights. In fact, in 1992, when he was a senator, Biden voted against ending a major rail strike, arguing that any sort of congressional intervention would be “rewarding” rail companies for poor negotiation.
Now, Biden’s desire to prevent an economic supply-chain disaster seems to be overriding his desire to protect his reputation as a union man — and critics of the president are taking the opportunity to point out this disparity.
In response to this criticism, Biden has acknowledged that it was “not an easy call” deciding to intervene, but that the threat of economic disaster was the most important thing to consider.
Meanwhile, some railroad workers have indicated much more than disappointment in the president’s decision to intervene in negotiations. One electrician, who has worked in the railroad industry for 17 years and recently accepted a new job in another industry, recently told the New York Times how he thinks this whole situation is going to play out.
“I’m telling you now, as soon as Congress decides to jam this contract down the [union] guys’ throats, you will see a mass exodus like no mass exodus from any industry ever,” he said. “It’s going to be like having a strike without having a strike.”
What happens if the railroad workers still decide to strike?
If the strike still takes place this month (or in the months to come), you might see a number of changes to your daily life — none of which will make the holiday season any easier.
Jay Matteson, an agricultural coordinator in Jefferson County, New York, explained exactly what might happen to local news station WWNY. “It’s more than just Christmas presents under the tree,” Matteson said. “It’s the food that people are going to put on their table. It’ll drive up cost. It’ll drive up cost of transportation, and it will impact the availability of food products to the American consumer.”
It would take several weeks for the shortages to be felt, Matteson said, but seeing as how 30 to 40 percent of the food people buy is shipped via the railways, it’s inevitable that grocery stores would take a significant hit.
According to CNN, you might also see price jumps in cars, gasoline, and other similar products, since they’re all shipped the same way, and you might even see changes to your daily transportation if you take a railroad to work each day.
