White House action forces 60-day pause via presidential emergency board
President Joe Biden established a presidential emergency board (PEB) (link) to tackle pay and schedule disputes between railroads and rail workers unions. Biden was expected to make this move. The executive order, issued Friday, intervened in a massive strike set for Monday that would have delayed 30% of all U.S. freight. The order takes effect at 12:01 am ET on Monday. “These disputes threaten substantially to interrupt interstate commerce to a degree that would deprive a section of the country of essential transportation service,” Biden said. “The President’s goal is to make sure America’s freight rail system continues to run without disruption, delivering the items that our families, communities, farms and businesses rely on,” a White House statement added.
Now what? The White House action forces a 60-day pause to permit a “neutral” panel of three to spend 30 days coming up with a potential solution to the impasse between labor and the railroads. After the PEB makes its recommendations, all sides have another 30 days to work out a deal or accept the PEB’s solutions. This past week, both the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET, a unit of the Teamsters) and the SMART-Transportation Division overwhelmingly approved a strike vote. Appointing a PEB stops that process, at least temporarily. If no agreement is reached after the cooling-off period, work stoppages are permitted. That puts the earliest possible strike/lockout date at Sept. 16. At that point, Congress could also get involved in passing a bill forcing a deal. Labor-relations expert Frank Wilner notes that by setting the date for a work stoppage at Sept. 16, unions are guaranteed time before the midterm elections for the Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress to write them a favorable agreement. The unions put out a statement urging members to contact members of Congress and ask them for “labor-friendly legislation” to resolve the dispute. But this strategy has backfired for organized labor before. Wilner recalls that in 1991, rail unions got their labor dispute before a Democratic-controlled Congress, but Sen. Ted Kennedy (R-Mass.) voted against labor in the Senate and the House passed a carrier-favorable bill by a vote of 400–5. But the difference then: a Republican headed the White House. This time around, it’s the self-described “most pro-union president leading the most pro-union administration in American history.”
Background. Railroads including BNSF Railway, CSX Transportation Inc, Union Pacific Railroad Co. and Norfolk Southern Railway, and 12 unions have been in contract talks since late 2019, after the existing contract came open for renewal. Union leaders said conductors and engineers have not received a raise in years despite record profits for several railroad companies. The industry has reportedly lost 20% of its workforce since 2017, which led to under staffing and longer hours for employees that stay. The parties expect a settlement that includes retroactive pay increases for 2020 and 2021.
Link to statement from the White House.
Link to release from the Coordinated Bargaining Coalition.
Link to release from the TTD.