President Joe Biden’s administration is calling on three major freight railroads to provide guaranteed paid sick leave to their workers, despite the fact that it shot down the benefits in order to avert a railroad strike in 2022.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su wrote a letter to rail giants CSX, Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Wednesday, encouraging the companies to “engage and reach agreements” with their respective unions to guarantee paid sick leave for all workers, which is the same policy that the Biden administration in 2022 blocked in their enforcement of a labor deal that stopped strikes over the benefit, according to NPR. The deal included raises and bonuses for rail workers, but some union members felt betrayed that the self-described “pro-labor” Biden did not deliver on paid sick leave at the time.
“Every worker deserves paid sick leave – and that is certainly true for the railroaders operating freight trains running through America’s communities,” Buttigieg said in the letter according to a Department of Transportation (DOT) press release. “When we got here, only about 5% of Class I union freight railroad workers had paid sick leave, but the Biden-Harris administration has pushed hard to support rail labor’s work to fix that – and now 90% of these workers have paid sick leave. We’re proud of that progress, but we will not stop fighting until the remaining 10,000 railroaders can count on this basic benefit.”
The rail strike would have cost the economy more than $1 billion in just the first week, according to CNN in 2022. Just before the strike was set to start, Congress imposed the Biden administration deal on the four unions that held out over paid sick leave.
NEWS: @SecretaryPete and @ActSecJulieSu urged railroads to guarantee paid sick leave for all employees.
Although access has increased from 5% to 90%, the remaining 10% of workers still lack this essential benefit, which is crucial for ensuring the safety of our railways. pic.twitter.com/7UVS0zg3mV
— U.S. Department of Transportation (@USDOT) September 25, 2024
After the deal was enforced, freight rail companies began negotiating with rail unions, and now 90% of workers have some form of paid sick leave, according to the DOT press release. There are 10,000 remaining workers who do not have paid sick leave in the industry.
Many rail workers felt blind-sided by Biden’s deal, with many saying they expected more from the president.
“Joe relied on us to get him home to his family,” roadway mechanic Reece Murtagh told NPR. “But when it was his turn to help us out… to better our life, he turned his back on us.”
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screen Capture/CSPAN)
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