The days when railroads dominated transportation in American life are long gone, but there's still a crucial way to move goods throughout the country to the tune of billions of tons of cargo every year.

It's a vital part of the American economy. The nation's rail workers want more job protection, higher salaries, more days off. Freight companies aren't budging.

And for now, the federal government has stepped in to tell workers, get back to work.

I'm Gustav Ariano. You're listening to The Times, essential news from the LA Times.

It's Friday, December 2nd, 2022.

Today, the federal government just prevented a possible rail strike that would have crippled

the U.S. economy. They impose an agreement between workers and their companies, and this isn't

the first time the feds have done such a move.

We look at what happened during previous transportation strikes in the United States and what that can teach us about the American labor movement in the present.

Eric Loomis is a professor of history at the University of Rhode Island

and author of A History of America in Ten Strikes.

Eric, welcome the Times.

Well, thank you so much.

Before we got to this point, there was a tentative deal that the Biden administration

brokered back in September that kept a strike from happening then.

What were the issues that they agreed on?

Well, they agreed primarily on financials.

The wages in this contract are really quite good,

provides a significant pay raise. So, you know, this puts the average wage well into over

$100,000 a year, which is a skilled job. It's a hard job. It's very much worth it. But there are a lot

of issues around sick leave and time-based management that have been a real problem here, and the

deal doesn't really

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