(Washington) The elected members of the House of Representatives intervened directly on Wednesday to unblock a social conflict and avoid a potentially catastrophic rail freight strike for the United States economy.
This bill, adopted by a majority of elected members of the lower house of Congress, imposes a branch agreement on the profession, although it has not been approved by all the social partners. It must now be passed by the Senate.
Faced with the prospect of a possible strike from December 9, US President Joe Biden had decided to entrust the file to Congress, empowered by a 1926 law to impose the adoption of an agreement in the event of an impasse in the negotiations.
The preliminary agreement, with retroactive application to 2020 and which extends until 2025, had been signed by eight of the 12 unions in the sector, but the four refractory organizations said they were ready to call on their members to stop work.
The text provides for a salary increase of 24% over the five-year period from 2020 to 2024 (with retroactive effect), with a salary increase of 14.1% with immediate effect, as well as five annual bonuses of 1000 dollars each.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, justified the decision to go through legislation to freeze the new collective agreement for rail freight by the need to “protect the American economy which continues to recover and to avoid the devastating stoppage of rail at the national level”.
A freight strike would have cut US economic activity by two billion dollars a day, according to an estimate by the American Railroad Association.
In 2020, about 28% of goods transported in the United States are transported by rail, according to Union Pacific.
Political risk removed
According to another study, by the American Chemical Council (ACC), a one-month work stoppage in the transport of goods would have led to a contraction of the gross domestic product (GDP) and an acceleration of inflation.
As 97% of the network used by the national rail company Amtrak is managed by freight operators, a strike would also have had considerable repercussions for passenger traffic.
The prospect of a U.S. rail paralysis also presented a major political risk for President Joe Biden, as inflation remains high and the U.S. economy already shows signs of slowing.
But by forcing the adoption of the collective agreement and ignoring social dialogue, the head of state exposed himself to criticism from unions and the left wing of the Democratic Party.
In an attempt to rally the opponents, the Democrats presented a complementary bill on Wednesday which provides for seven days of guaranteed sick leave per year.
Sick leave had crystallized the dissatisfaction of many employees in the sector, some companies not granting any in the state.
This second text was adopted following the vote on the agreement itself.
Before the vote, three of the four refractory unions had come out of their principled opposition to the intervention of politics, and had called on Congress to adopt the additional text on sick leave.