WASHINGTON, DC — US President
Joe Biden
signed into law Friday a rare intervention by Congress forcing freight rail
unions to accept a salary deal, avoiding a possibly devastating strike — but
putting the “pro-union” Democrat in an awkward political position.
اضافة اعلان
Biden signed the law in a brief White House ceremony
only a week before unions who had rejected the deal were expected to have gone
on strike, threatening crucial supply chains across the world’s biggest
economy.
The deal delivers a hefty wage increase but four of
the 12 unions involved refused to accept it because there was no agreement on
giving workers paid sick leave. Congress acted under a little used power to
resolve disputes involving railroads.
As he signed the bill, Biden said Congress had
“avoided what, without a doubt, would have been an economic catastrophe”.
“Without freight rail, many of the US industries
would literally have shut down,” Biden said, adding that his advisors feared
the loss of 750,000 jobs within two weeks if the strike had gone ahead.
The episode has been politically awkward for Biden.
Trade unions constitute a major element in his
electoral coalition and he frequently describes himself as a lifelong union
supporter and the “most pro-union president” in history.
That claim is now in question with the emergency
bill signing, with some on the left accusing Biden of having sold out. After
the Senate came down decisively in favor of the rail management, one union
leader called the situation “horrific”.
The Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen alleged that
senators had “demonstrated they are for the corporate class.”
Biden bypassed the issue later Friday when he
visited the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union in
Boston to join a phone bank drumming up Democratic voter enthusiasm for the
attempt to win a crucial extra Senate seat in Georgia’s runoff election next
Tuesday.
The president told the audience he would not have
won his own 2020 election without the IBEW’s support and said his polices since
then had favored the less well off.
No choice
Judging by the
overwhelmingly bipartisan support in Congress for forcing through the deal, the
political hit for overriding the union holdouts will be contained for Biden.
The House easily passed the bill and on Thursday the Senate, where Biden’s
bills are usually lucky to scrape through with the one-vote Democratic
majority, passed it 80-15.
Biden said he had no choice but to act quickly in
the face of what the White House warns would have been a crippling strike right
when the US economy is showing signs of stabilizing in the wake of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
In his comments at the signing ceremony, Biden said
the wages deal — which his administration was heavily involved in crafting —
was “a good product”.
He acknowledged the lack of sick leave but said “I’m
coming back at it” with “more work to do”.
Above all, Biden said, the forceful intervention by
Congress and the White House would benefit the country as a whole.
“They did one heck of a job in averting what could
have been a real disaster,” he said.
Biden said “765,000 Americans, many of them union
members themselves, would have been put out of work within the first two weeks
of this strike alone.”
In addition, the breaking of supply chains for basic
materials like chemicals and farm supplies would put clean drinking water and
food at risk.
“We’ve spared the country that catastrophe,” Biden
said.
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