In a statement, Mr. Biden said the “tentative agreement” between railroad unions and railroad workers was “an important victory for our economy and the American people” and “a victory for tens of thousands of railroad workers who have worked tirelessly during the pandemic to ensure that America’s families and communities receive what has kept us going through these difficult years.” Biden announces tentative deal to avert rail strike 04:09 Mr Biden said US rail workers “will get better pay, improved working conditions and peace of mind about health care costs: all hard-earned” thanks to the deal, which he said was “also a victory for rail companies that will be able to retain and hire more workers for an industry that will continue to be part of the backbone of the American economy for decades to come.” The president met with negotiators in the Oval Office later Thursday morning, calling the rail system “the backbone of the nation” in brief remarks before making formal remarks about the deal. “This deal is a big win for America and for both, in my view,” he said during his Rose Garden speech, adding that the tentative labor agreement is “validation of what I’ve always believed: Union and management they can work together.” “For the American people,” Mr. Biden continued, “this deal can prevent the significant damage that any shutdown would cause. Our nation’s rail system is the backbone of our supply chain, everything you rely on.” President Biden speaks about the railroad labor deal in the Rose Garden of the White House on September 15, 2022. JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images The deal will now go to the unions for a vote to finalize the deal. Union presidents representing rail workers said the breakthrough provided for “the highest across-the-board wage increases during the agreement in more than 45 years.” Workers will receive an immediate 14 percent raise, with a total increase of 24 percent over the five-year deal, unions said. They will also receive a $5,000 annual bonus and keep their pay and health care deductibles unchanged. Importantly, all workers will get an extra day off and be able to take time off for medical reasons, one of the main demands made by the unions during the negotiations. “For the first time, our unions were able to obtain negotiated language that exempts time off for certain medical events from the carrier’s monitoring policies,” union leaders said. A source familiar with the labor talks told CBS News that the negotiating parties agreed to a “post-ratification cooling-off period” of several weeks to ensure there is no immediate shutdown of rail operations if the vote fails. any reason. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh oversaw a marathon negotiating session Wednesday at the Labor Department that led to the deal, and CBS News has learned that Mr. Biden made what one source described as a “critical call” in the negotiations around 9 p.m. local time on Wednesday night. . Walsh said in a tweet that “after more than 20 straight hours of negotiations” at the Labor Department, “railroad companies and union negotiators have reached a tentative agreement that balances the needs of workers, businesses and our nation’s economy.” . The announcement came hours after Amtrak announced it was canceling all long-distance trips starting Thursday amid a strike threat that could disrupt not only passenger and freight services, but also the U.S. economy. Rail companies had warned that the strike could result in a loss of productivity of $2 billion a day. In light of the deal announced Thursday morning, Amtrak said it is “working to quickly restore” the canceled trains “and is reaching out to affected customers to serve the first available departures.” The root of the problem was a labor dispute between the railroad companies and their unionized workforce. If the two sides had not reached an agreement, the strike was set to begin shortly after midnight on Friday. A Labor Department spokesman told CBS News Wednesday afternoon that a dinner had been ordered and that talks in Washington between federal officials, railroad executives and railroad union leaders were continuing. Mr. Biden’s statement about the deal came at about 5 a.m. Thursday. Nationwide rail strike threat poses risks to supply chain 02:07 Without the deal, the strike would have started on Friday at the end of a 30-day “cooling off” period under the terms of the Railway Labor Act, which governs contract talks in the rail and airline industries.
It was the Association of American Railroads that had warned that the disruption of freight trains could cost the US economy more than $2 billion a day. If an outage were to last more than a few days, the impact would likely be felt by millions of consumers, disrupting the transportation of nearly all retail products, coal, other fuels and construction components. Commuters would also be out of luck as many passenger trains run on freight lines that would be idled in a strike, experts say. In the past, most recently in 1986, Congress had acted to end railroad strikes. If no deal had been reached this week, both chambers could have passed a joint resolution — which would have to be signed by the president — effectively forcing rail workers to continue working under terms set by an emergency council. of necessity established earlier by the White House. year. The US House of Representatives had urged Congress to stand by and be ready to step in before Thursday morning’s deal was announced. In a statement praising Mr. Biden and the labor secretary for their roles in the negotiations, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirmed that Congress was “ready to take action … to ensure the continued operation of essential transportation services.” . “Led by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the House has prepared and revised legislation so that we are ready to act, under Section 10 of the Railroad Jobs Act,” Pelosi said. “Fortunately this action may not be necessary.” Ed O’Keefe, Steven Portnoy and Kathryn Krupnick contributed to this report.

Tucker Reals

Tucker Reals is the foreign editor for CBSNews.com, based in the CBS News London bureau.