The Union and management have finally settled on a tentative deal today to avert the freight railroad strike which might have caused a huge loss to the crippling US economy and the nationwide supply chain.
The deal on the outstanding demands of the workers, with the union representing more than 50,000 engineers and conductors has been announced in a statement coming in from the White House, calling it an important win for the economy.
The 20 hours long negotiation began Wednesday morning and was hosted by Labor Secretary Marty Walsh. In the prolonged meeting, Biden emphasized the catastrophic harm the families, businesses, and communities if the rail system is shut down.
The latest terms agreed between the two parties have reached doesn’t mean at all that the strike has gone away entirely. However, it is good news for a wide range of businesses, whose existence is hugely dependent on the freight railroads to continue with their operations and for the US economy in the wider perspective.
The statement from the Biden administration indicates that the major issue that had brought the country within a day of its first national rail strike in 30 years had been addressed in the unions' favor.
“It is a win for tens of thousands of rail workers who worked tirelessly through the pandemic to ensure that America's families and communities got deliveries of what has kept us going during these difficult years," said the President. "These rail workers will get better pay, improved working conditions, and peace of mind around their health care costs: all hard-earned."
What is the dispute all about?
The entire strike and protest matter deals around the staff shortages and scheduling norms which the union members claim have brought their membership to a breaking point.
The workers involved in the protest argue that the industry is in crisis. Between November 2018 and December 2020, the industry lost around 40,000 jobs, as per the data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. And, the entire workforce in the segment dropped from 1 million in 1950 to a much lesser 150,000 in 2022.
Despite all these development the companies continued to make a profit. Ross Grooters while talking to the media about their plight said, “These railroads are making billions of dollars.
In the past, we’ve been well compensated for being on call 24/7, 365 days a year. That’s been eroded over the course of my career in the last two decades to where it’s just not appealing enough to attract people into the workplace.”
The unions say that the railroads have been requiring their members to be “on call” and ready to report to work on short notice as often as seven days a week.
In the proceeding of the matter the union, however, has made this outrightly clear that their members would not accept the contract without a change in the work rules.
Apart from these, the major concern among the worker’s strike includes, Labor cuts, lack of paid days off, precision scheduling systems to reduce headcounts, disciplinary attendance policies that issue points against workers for any time taken off, and unfair, Grooters added further.
In the US railroad workers are guided through a different set of labor laws that most workers of different industries are governed by. This limits their freedom in totality to strike and allows more governmental intervention.
The American media reported citing a source from the Union that the Democrat’s refusal to side with the management had been a key to the talks leading to a partial settlement after the marathon negotiation.