The new date is Nov 30, 2022, 02:26pmEST.
The House voted to grant rail workers additional sick leave in order to prevent a strike that would cripple U.S. supply chains and hurt the economy.
There is a protest outside the U.S. Capitol Building. Anna Moneymaker poses for a picture.
President Joe Biden made an agreement with railroad unions and companies in September to raise rail workers' wages by a quarter of a million dollars.
Lawmakers added seven days of paid sick leave to the agreement.
Eight of the 12 rail industry unions agreed to Biden's deal, but four other unions voted against it and are threatening to go on strike if the deal doesn't include sick leave.
Biden asked Congress to implement the labor agreement and require both sides to abide by it before a December 9 deadline that could cause an industry-wide strike.
The measure needs to be voted on by the Senate. In a statement issued following the House vote, Biden urged the Senate to take up the measure quickly and send a bill to his desk for his signature. If the upper chamber doesn't agree to the new sick leave policy, Sen.
Hundreds of thousands of people could be out of work if a rail strike is allowed to go forward. Following Biden's plea to Congress to pass his deal, which did not include more paid days off, railroad workers unions remained steadfast in their demands for more sick leave. Railroad companies have attendance policies that force them to be on-call for days or weeks at a time in an effort to avoid disruptions in service. The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees is one of the unions that voted against the deal. The sick leave policy was agreed to by the House Democrats. "After hearing from our Members, we are in agreement that a nationwide rail strike must be prevented, and that more must be done to secure the paid sick leave that hard-working railroaders deserve," Pelosi wrote.
Ian Jeffries, president of the Association of American Railroads, said this week that the unions have not made a concerted effort to engage in discussions about companies' sick leave policies. In the past, unions have agreed to increased wages in lieu of more sick days. After four days of not being used, paid sick leave can be granted. The wage increases offered by the new contract are the most significant in decades.
We need to act right now. On the House floor, Pelosi urged a strong bipartisan vote to adopt the Tentative Agreement and secure additional paid sick leave.
$1 billion. The amount of money the U.S. economy could lose under a rail strike was predicted.
BidenUrges Congress to pass a railroad strike bill.
There will be more economic disruption on December 9th due to the railway strike.
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