Strike plans derailed — for now
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 15 September 2022
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
More than 100,000 railroad workers were ready to strike this week in the name of more sick days. Plus, what happens when a man with a pistol shows up outside the home of a congresswoman.
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When 115,000 unionized railroad workers made it clear there would be a strike if freight companies didn’t give them sick days, President Biden made some calls.
After hours of negotiations, the strike was likely averted, but the high-stakes freight rail drama could heat up again soon. Labor reporter Lauren Kaori Gurley takes us behind the scenes of the Biden administration’s last-ditch efforts to avoid an economic crisis.
Also, during a Saturday night in July, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) called 911 multiple times after an encounter with two men outside her Seattle home.
National political enterprise reporter Ruby Cramer discusses how extreme rhetoric targeted toward members of Congress has escalated lately, and the impact of these threats on elected officials.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This week, the country narrowly avoided a massive railroad strike. |
| 0:07.4 | Very early Thursday morning, freight railroad companies finally struck a deal with union |
| 0:11.4 | workers who were fighting for better conditions. |
| 0:14.2 | This is a huge relief because if a strike had happened, it would have had huge consequences. |
| 0:20.1 | Basically, what would have happened is that like 115,000 railroad workers in the United |
| 0:27.0 | States would have gone on strike or a solidarity with other workers who were going on strike. |
| 0:31.5 | This would have sort of paralyzed a major amount of the United States transportation |
| 0:37.5 | infrastructure. |
| 0:38.5 | A crude energy and water would have had a huge disruption to those things, but also retail, |
| 0:45.0 | basically every part of the U.S. economy would have been infected. |
| 0:47.9 | During a point in the economy where we're facing very high rates of inflation, a supply |
| 0:53.2 | chain crisis already existed would have been exacerbated. |
| 0:57.6 | Lauren Cowrie-Girly covers labor at the post. |
| 1:00.4 | She got the scoop this morning, the strike had been averted, at least for now. |
| 1:04.7 | But this labor drama could heat up again, and it shows just how precarious the U.S. economy |
| 1:10.5 | is right now. |
| 1:15.3 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports. |
| 1:18.6 | I'm Martine Powers. |
| 1:20.5 | It's Thursday, September 15th. |
| 1:22.6 | Today, behind the scenes of the labor strike that wasn't. |
| 1:26.6 | And later on the show, we dive deep into the threats that members of Congress are facing, |
| 1:31.9 | and what it means going into the midterms. |
... |
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