Why Biden And Congress Are Trying To Stop A Railroad Strike

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

Politics, Daily News, News

4.5 • 24.9K Ratings

🗓️ 30 November 2022

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Railroad unions rejected a Biden-brokered deal to prevent a national strike over concerns that it did not include paid sick leave. Now, the president is pushing Congress to implement it anyway. Biden — who has described himself as the most labor-friendly president in U.S. history — is worried that a rail workers' strike during the holiday season would devastate the economy.

This episode: White House correspondent Asma Khalid, political correspondent Susan Davis, and national political correspondent Mara Liasson.

This episode was produced by Elena Moore and Casey Morell. It was edited by Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi. Research and fact-checking by Katherine Swartz.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is John in Berryville, Virginia. I'm about to head out with my fellow members of the local
0:05.6	architectural review board for our most important meeting of the year. Judging of the main street,
0:10.6	parking meter, Christmas decoration contest. Woohoo! This podcast was recorded at...
0:15.6	118 pm Eastern time on Wednesday, November 30th, 2022.
0:22.0	Things may have changed by the time you hear it, and hopefully we'll also know which group
0:26.3	or individual decorated their parking meter in the most creative, original, and festive way. Enjoy the show!
0:35.8	Merry Christmas. That is a very NPR Christmas story story. Hey there, it's the NPR Politics
0:42.8	Podcast. I'm Usma Khalid, I cover the White House. Susan Davis, I cover politics. And I'm Mara
0:48.4	Lias and National Political Correspondent. And today on the show, can politicians prevent a
0:54.0	national rail strike ahead of the holidays. That is the question we are going to attempt to
0:59.4	answer in this podcast. Contract talks have been stalled for weeks. Several unions rejected this
1:05.1	tentative agreement proposed by the White House, because in major part it did not include paid sick leave.
1:10.6	And President Biden is deeply concerned that any sort of rail strike could have a massive impact
1:15.6	on the economy and already existing supply chain kinks. And so Biden, who came into office,
1:21.4	promising to be the most labor-friendly president the country has ever seen, is now in this
1:27.1	awkward position, having to ask Congress to force the unions to accept an agreement to prevent
1:32.0	a strike. And so I want to begin with a question I think a lot of listeners have, which is,
1:37.1	you know, this is a negotiation that is taking place between railroads and their workers unions.
1:42.2	So where and why is the government even involved here? Sure, I mean, there was a deal on the table
1:48.0	for each in mid-September, part through mediators that appointed by the Biden administration. But
1:52.8	of the 12 unions involved, eight ratified a proposed contract and four rejected it. And the two
1:58.6	sides have been in what's been called a cooling off period, but it's coming up to a very key
	...

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