COMP NEWS – After three years of failed negotiations, rail workers were on the verge of electing to strike for paid sick days. But on December 2, President Biden signed into law legislation that imposed a contract agreement on rail workers – with no paid sick days included.

Matthew Weaver was excited earlier this week — even optimistic — as he and a coworker hung drywall at a rail yard in Lordstown, Ohio.

The House of Representatives had just voted on a resolution to give freight rail workers seven days of paid sick leave — something Weaver’s union had been fighting for in recent months.

But as the hours passed and the legislation moved onto the Senate, Weaver’s doubts grew. Sure enough, the measure failed in the Senate.

So on Friday morning, after three years of failed negotiations, President Biden instead signed into law a measure that imposes the contract agreement brokered by his administration back in September, a deal that gives workers a 24% raise over five years, caps on health care premiums, and one additional personal day, but no paid sick days.

Some rail workers see the imposed contract as a betrayal from the self-described “pro-union” President.

Four of the 12 freight rail unions, collectively representing more than half of the 115,000 freight rail workers covered by the deal, had voted down the agreement, citing the lack of paid sick days as a primary reason.

Workers who voted no say they are frustrated and disappointed — especially with President Biden, who on Monday called on Congress to pass legislation to adopt the tentative agreement with no modifications in order to avoid a crippling rail strike.

“It feels like President Biden ushered this in a little too early,” says Weaver. “He kind of cut us off at the knees on our ability to have some real negotiations or real change after voting no.”

In Richmond, Virginia, roadway mechanic Reece Murtagh says it sets a bad precedent when even the most pro-labor of presidents will force an agreement rather than allow workers to strike.

Matthew Weaver, the once-excited railroad carpenter, expects to see waves of departures once back pay and bonuses finish paying out.

“In Toledo where I live, there’s refinery jobs, there’s trucking jobs, there’s many other crafts out there that pay better and [where] they get respect from their employer,” he says. “That’s the problem. Working conditions, attendance policies, lack of respect, militant discipline — we’re really suffering.”

To read more about the Biden administration’s attempt to break rail workers’ strike, click here.

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