How did Biden handle the railroad strike?

You read that correctly: Biden decided the broader economy was a bigger priority than 100,000 freight rail workers having any paid sick leave in their next contract. After campaigning as the most pro-union presidential candidate in history, Biden signed into law a measure that makes a rail strike illegal.



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The auto industry was booming, and Americans bought cars and houses in suburbs without rail connections. Highways (as well as aviation) became the focus of infrastructure spending, at the expense of rail.

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Statement from President Joe Biden on Averting a Rail Shutdown. I am calling on Congress to pass legislation immediately to adopt the Tentative Agreement between railroad workers and operators – without any modifications or delay – to avert a potentially crippling national rail shutdown.

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This is because in 1926, Congress passed the Railway Labor Act as one of the first labor laws in the country. This law gives Congress the right to intervene in disputes between rail unions.

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On May 10, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation passed the Railway Safety Act of 2023 (S. 576) out of committee on a largely party-line vote. Democrats were unanimously in favor, but two Republicans on the committee—the original bill sponsor, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Sen.

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High Compensation: In 2020, Class I freight rail employee compensation, including benefits, averaged about $135,700 per year. Railroad retirees are covered by the Railroad Retirement System, which is separate from social security and is funded by railroads and their employees.

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Last fall, many union railroad workers in the United States did not have paid sick days. Now, more than sixty percent of them do, Reuters reports. It has been a process of slow, piecemeal wins over many months—and a testament to the continued push of high-profile politicians like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont).

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The Great Depression of the 1930s forced some railroad companies into bankruptcy, creating hundreds of miles of disowned and subsequently abandoned railway properties; other railroad companies found incentive to merge or reorganize, during which excess or redundant rights-of-way were abandoned.

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The interstate highway system cost $129 billion — roughly $290 billion in current dollars — and took 35 years to complete, running from 1957 to 1992. The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill enacted in 2021 has $102 billion for rail, but none of the money is set aside for high-speed rail.

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