Legislation to fend off a threatened strike by railway workers was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday and is on its way to the Senate, NBC News reports.
The bill passed 290-137 with broad bipartisan support, and now goes to the Senate, where lawmakers must act quickly to beat the Dec. 9 strike deadline, according to the report. Passage of the legislation faces some hurdles put up by senators, including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) who are pressing to have paid sick leave included in the tentative agreement (TA) proposed by the White House in September.
"At a time of record profits in the rail industry, it’s unacceptable that rail workers have ZERO guaranteed paid sick days," Sanders wrote in a Twitter post. "It’s my intention to block consideration of the rail legislation until a roll call vote occurs on guaranteeing 7 paid sick days to rail workers in America."
NBC reports the House passed a second bill, also on Wednesday, that included seven days of paid sick leave and has sent both bills to the Senate to consider.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, (D-N.Y.,) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, (R-Ky.) support and believe lawmakers need to act this week, NBC reports.
The Progressive Policy Institute also supports the Biden administration's efforts to avoid a rail strike, and called on Congress "to adopt the agreement, without delay or modifications."
“While the President has been open about his hesitation to push a deal that has been rejected by some union members," Taylor Maag, director of Workforce Development Policy at the PPI, wrote in a statement on the strike, "he also said a rail strike would devastate our economy, as more than 500,000 Americans, many of whom are union workers, could be put out of work in the first two weeks."
A "voluntary agreement" with the "holdout unions" would be the best resolution, Maag wrote, whereas the risk of a strike is "too great" to the nation's economy and local communities.
"A rail strike could threaten the nation’s water supply, halt rail travel, and trigger even more disruption to the U.S. supply chain — which could potentially worsen inflation," Maag wrote in the statement.
A Forbes Tate Partners national survey taken Nov. 9 through Nov. 16 found 92% of the 1,000 registered voters surveyed responded that it is "important" for the U.S. economy to avoid a rail strike, with 71% responding it is "very important," the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported Nov. 27. More than 70% of union households, Democrats and Republicans said that Congress should act if union workers do not accept the agreement.
AAR published its fact sheet to increase support for Congressional intervention against a strike and noted that in the past, Congress has, on a bipartisan basis, implemented recommendations or unratified agreements by voice vote or by large margin.
Congress also has authority to block a strike and impose a labor agreement on workers under the Railway Labor Act, a 1926 law to prevent the interruption of interstate commerce in labor disputes, according to NBC News reports.
