President Joe Biden signed a bill Friday imposing union contracts on rail workers in order to avoid a work stoppage that could have hit the rail system early this month.
Biden defended his decision to have Congress override negotiations between unions and the rail carriers before workers could strike for a better deal. Many rail workers had hoped to secure paid sick leave in the final agreement, but Congress voted to impose the deal without it at Biden’s urging.
“I know this was a tough vote for members of both parties,” Biden told reporters at the White House. “It was a tough vote for me, but it was the right thing to do at the moment.”
Biden said that allowing a work stoppage to happen “without a doubt would have been an economic catastrophe,” shutting down industries, raising prices and jeopardizing clean drinking water.
Four out of twelve unions representing rail workers rejected a tentative agreement reached with the nation’s major carriers, including CSX, BNSF…
