Whitehouse Calls on Congress to Impose Railroad Agreement
Congress to move to impose new railroad contracts on unions that rejected it, preventing Dec. strike over lack of paid sick leave.
While eight of the twelve labor unions that make up the freight industry have accepted a new agreement with railroad companies, four rejected it. Talks between railway workers and their employers appear to have stalled, making the threat of a strike at the Dec. 9 deadline all the more likely.
The lack of paid sick leave in the contracts is a sticking point for the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers, the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division-International Brotherhood of Teamsters.