Rail Workers Fume After Biden ‘Betrayal’ Blocks Possible Strike For Sick Days
© AP Photo / Alex Brandon
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Official union statements and individual testimonies suggest the president’s honeymoon phase with labor may have come to a close.
Rail workers are venting their anger after feeling deceived by Joe Biden this week, following the United States president’s intervention in negotiations between major rail carriers and the unions representing their employees.
One worker who described feeling “betrayed by Biden” explained to a labor journalist, “Let's put it this way: for three years I flew a flag in front of my house that said ‘impeach Trump.’ If Trump runs against Biden in 2024, l'll take some of my back pay and give it to Trump.”
From a railroad worker in Ohio this morning pic.twitter.com/yvsSQWHst0
— Jonah Furman (@JonahFurman) December 2, 2022
On Friday, Biden signed a congressional resolution effectively forcing rail employees back to work without requiring ownership to provide any of the paid sick leave they’d been angling for throughout talks. Eight of the unions involved in negotiations found Biden’s proposed deal acceptable, but four of them---those representing the majority of US rail workforce---rejected it.
While the deal includes a significant raise, it would allow employees to miss work for routine medical appointments just three times a year, and force them to use paid vacation time to do so. If things ended with a strike, workers could have extracted more concessions, but after Biden’s meddling, it looks increasingly likely that they’ll be forced to take what they’re given.
The White House defended Biden’s actions, saying he was “reluctant to override the ratification procedures and the views of those who voted against the agreement” but compelled to act to protect US economic interests. At the signing ceremony, Biden called it “a tough [vote] for me” but “the right thing to do at the moment to save jobs.”
But many of the rail workers disagree, and so do the other union leaders who feel that they’ve been betrayed by Biden and his party.
"Joe Biden forced a contract on our unionized workers who voted against it,” explained Reece Murtagh, a roadway mechanic interviewed by a US cable news channel. “And listen: we don't want to strike, but the only way we can get a fair contract is to strike---it's our only leverage. The rail carriers do not negotiate in good faith."
A roadway mechanic who voted for Biden now feels the president is turning his back on rail workers. He tells @kaitlancollins why: pic.twitter.com/iHQ1VjvnIx
— CNN This Morning (@CNNThisMorning) December 2, 2022
With Biden’s decision setting a potentially worrying precedent for labor organizers across the economy, presidents of other unions stepped in to express their disapproval as well.
“At a moment when the railroad workers had maximum power in relation to the supply chain and the need for their essential work, the White House and the Democratic and the Republican Party leadership put their fingers on the scale and tipped it in favor of corporate America at the expense of the workers and human decency,” read a statement issued Friday by American Postal Workers Union President Mark Dimondstein.
“This was a direct attack on the right to strike for the people I represent,” explained Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants union. “The message they’re sending is that they are siding with bosses whether they intend it or not. Fair collective bargaining includes the right to strike, so everyone has something to lose.”
