Breakthrough: Statement by President Joe Biden on Tentative Railway Labor Agreement
September 15, 2022 • Statements and Releases
The tentative agreement reached tonight is an important win for our economy and the American people. It is a win for tens of thousands of rail workers who worked tirelessly through the pandemic to ensure that America’s families and communities got deliveries of what have kept us going during these difficult years. These rail workers will get better pay, improved working conditions, and peace of mind around their health care costs: all hard-earned. The agreement is also a victory for railway companies who will be able to retain and recruit more workers for an industry that will continue to be part of the backbone of the American economy for decades to come.
I thank the unions and rail companies for negotiating in good faith and reaching a tentative agreement that will keep our critical rail system working and avoid disruption of our economy.
I am grateful for the hard work that Secretaries Walsh, Buttigieg, and Vilsack, and NEC Director Deese put into reaching this tentative agreement. I especially want to thank Secretary Walsh for his tireless, around-the-clock efforts that delivered a win for the hard working people of the US rail industry: as a result, we will keep Americans on the job in all the industries in this country that are touched by this vital industry.
For the American people, the hard work done to reach this tentative agreement means that our economy can avert the significant damage any shutdown would have brought. With unemployment still near record lows and signs of progress in lowering costs, tonight’s agreement allows us to continue to fight for long term economic growth that finally works for working families.
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https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/09/15/statement-by-president-joe-biden-on-tentative-railway-labor-agreement/
Media was chomping at the bits to get The Narrative® going again, now using a possible rail strike as a justification to sink Democrats and Joe Biden.
THWARTED!
Thank you Secretaries Walsh, Buttigieg, Vilsack and others for the intense work towards getting this done.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Pundits and Republicans were rubbing their hands together at the prospect of a crippling rail strike. They don’t care what happens to the rest of the country as long as they get to tell their narrative. Now I will wait in vain to hear them talk about what a great job the President did in averting this strike
Was waiting for him to issue a tweet from that account and hadn't checked in a bit! 
how all the so-called "Rust Belt" needed was something to "scrape off the rust and reveal the shiny new steel underneath". The foundational structure is still sound. 
and he and my sis go back there several times a year since one of his brothers and a sister are still there. He and my sis live here in the Philly area now but had originally lived out there in the greater Dayton area for awhile previously (and she was actually commuting back and forth to Cincinnati for awhile). A bunch of his friends left there because of what was happening. 
Now owned by a German groups, called mahle. My Son was an Engeneer there. Went through all the transitions. The only plant to have a Union for Engineers and he was under the Chrysler contract.
They almost killed him,7/12 hour days. He also also on 24 hour call. When he needed a break management told him they needed him. He was one month short of the age requirement. He waited, turned in his retirement. They were quite unhappy with him.
Asked him if he would come back and teach! Happily retired, he loved to make things.
My DIL’s Mother worked fot P&G. My DIL will not buy anything else.
was able to give them the old heave-ho!!! 
That "on call" stuff is just ridiculous - particularly for that type of position. Glad he is happily retired (and he can choose what he wants to do and when)!
And LOL - I know some P&G devotees... but then at one time, they made so much that chances were, some product you bought was from one of their subsidiaries. 
He had walked awa, but the mentality of the Union was strong. In that case the Egieer was in charge of designing the machines, making sure they were running them right, the whole bit.he refused to become a paper pusher as he called management, said he trained to be an Engineer.
I am proud of him. My Grandson gradiated from Ohio U in the spring, but boy how things have changed. He has been designing robots since High School
They keep me up.
Smart Biden! That picture of Biden sitting in that orange sports car saying,” Made In America!” Is what workers want to hear!
Well done Joe!
May I borrow it?
Back Unions..
Link to tweet
@LaurenKGurley
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SCOOP: @JStein_WaPo and I have confirmed that railroads have agreed to give workers the ability to take days off for medical care without being subject to discipline.
This was THE key demand that railroad workers wanted to strike over, and they got it.
6:46 AM · Sep 15, 2022
Link to tweet
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Sep 15, 2022
@LaurenKGurley
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Replying to @LaurenKGurley
MORE DETAILS:
Workers will receive voluntary assigned days off AND a single additional paid day off. (They previously did not receive sick days.)
+ The agreement provides members with ability to take unpaid days for medical care without being subject to attendance policies.
Lauren Kaori Gurley
@LaurenKGurley
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@JStein_WaPo reports that Biden was personally animated about the lack of leave for railroad workers, and brought up that he did not understand why they could not be granted more flexible schedules.
Here's our story:
washingtonpost.com
Biden says ‘tentative’ deal reached to avert rail strike
7:02 AM · Sep 15, 2022
By Lauren Kaori Gurley and Jeff Stein
Updated September 15, 2022 at 9:39 a.m. EDT|Published September 15, 2022 at 5:23 a.m. EDT
The White House early Thursday morning announced an agreement between rail carriers and union leaders, likely averting a national rail strike that threatened to paralyze key parts of the U.S. economy. With less than 24 hours to avoid a potential shutdown, President Biden said that negotiators had clinched a “tentative” deal to keep freight trains running and prevent a major disruption to the nation’s supply chains.
The agreement provides workers with the ability to take days off for sick leave and medical emergencies — the unions’ central demand in negotiations — although it granted them only one day of paid sick leave, according to two people briefed on the plan, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because it had not yet been publicly announced. The agreement, which must still be ratified by the unions, represents a major breakthrough for the White House after it launched an all-out effort to prevent a shutdown that could have had significant economic and political ramifications in the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections.
The president was personally involved in the talks, calling into negotiations convened by Labor Secretary Marty Walsh in Washington around 9 p.m. on Wednesday, and pressing both the carriers and the unions to come to an agreement in phone calls this week. Biden had grown animated in recent days about the lack of scheduling flexibility for workers, expressing a mixture of confusion and anger that management was refusing to budge on that point, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of private conversations with the president.
The political consequences of a rail strike less than two months before the midterm elections would have been monumental for Democrats, with Republican lawmakers blaming the administration for not securing a deal. Three of Biden’s Cabinet secretaries, his top economic adviser and his chief of staff were involved in the talks on an hourly basis, and White House aides drafted contingency plans for protecting the nation’s drinking water and energy systems if a deal had fallen through.
(snip)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/09/15/rail-strike-deal-agreement-biden/
No paywall link
