White House Brokers Deal to Avert National Rail Strike

President Biden this morning announced a tentative agreement between rail carriers and union leaders, which would keep freight trains running and prevent a major disruption to the nation’s supply chains.

The White House helped broker the deal which will likely avert a national rail strike that could have had significant economic and political ramifications in the weeks leading up to the mid-term elections. The agreement would allow more scheduling flexibility for workers to take days off for sick leave and medical emergencies, which was the unions’ central demand in negotiations with rail carriers, and the biggest wage increases for railroad workers in more than four decades.

“This agreement can avert significant damage that any shutdown would have brought,” Biden said earlier today. “Every good that you need seems to end on a rail getting delivered to where it needs to go.”

The agreement must still be ratified by the unions but negotiators are optimistic the crisis is averted.