众议院投票通过对铁路工会的强制协议

华盛顿(美联社)——美国总统巴拉克.S. 周三，众议院紧急采取行动，阻止迫在眉睫的全国铁路罢工, passing a bill that would bind companies and workers to a proposed settlement that was reached in September but rejected by some of the 12 unions involved.

该法案以290票对137票通过，现在将提交参议院. If approved there, it will be signed by President Joe Biden, who urged the Senate to act swiftly.

“本周没有最终投票来避免政府关门的确定性, 铁路s will begin to halt the movement of critical materials like chemicals to clean our drinking water as soon as this weekend,拜登说. “让我再说一遍:本周不采取行动, 扰乱我们的汽车供应链, 我们把食物送到餐桌上的能力, 我们清除炼油厂危险废物的能力将开始发挥."

包括美国在内的商业团体.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Farm Bureau Federation have warned that halting rail service would cause a devastating $2 billion per day hit to the economy.

The bill would impose a compromise labor agreement brokered by the Biden administration that was ultimately voted down by four of the 12 unions representing roughly 115,在大型货运铁路上有000名雇员. 工会威胁说，如果在12月6日之前不能达成协议，他们将举行罢工. 9日的最后期限.

两党议员对推翻谈判结果持保留态度. The intervention was particularly difficult for Democratic lawmakers who have traditionally sought to align themselves with the politically powerful labor unions that criticized Biden's move to intervene in the contract dispute and block a strike.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded to that concern by adding a second vote Wednesday that would add seven days of paid sick leave per year for rail workers covered under the agreement. 然而，只有在参议院同意并通过这两项措施的情况下，它才会生效. 众议院也通过了病假法案, 但差距要小得多, 221-207, 共和党人以压倒性多数反对该法案, indicating that prospects for passage of the add-on are slim in the evenly divided Senate.

Business groups and the Association of American 铁路roads trade association praised the House vote to block the strike but urged senators to resist adding sick time to the deal.

“除非国会想成为未来谈判的最后阶段, any effort to put its thumb on the bargaining scale to artificially advantage either party, 否则就会阻碍迅速的决议, 这是完全不负责任的,伊恩·杰弗里斯说, AAR负责人.

另一方面, the Transportation Trades Department labor coalition that includes all the rail unions praised the vote to add sick time and told lawmakers who voted against it they had "abandoned your working class constituents."

现在的焦点转向参议院，参议院投票的时间尚不清楚. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will meet with Democratic senators Thursday to discuss the rail negotiations. Some Democrats are insistent that the Senate vote on providing seven days of paid sick leave.

“这是一个数十亿美元的行业，从事回购, that has doubled its profit margins during the pandemic should not be able to force its workers to come in when they are sick and injured,森说。. 伊丽莎白·沃伦，马萨诸塞州民主党人.

But most Republicans are reluctant to alter the tentative settlement reached in September.

"I think it's a bad precedent for us to get into the nuances and details of things like this that have been negotiated for three years,森说。. 约翰·图恩，R-S.D.

The call for paid sick leave was a major sticking point in the talks along with other quality-of-life concerns. The 铁路s say the unions have agreed in negotiations over the decades to forgo paid sick time in favor of higher wages and strong short-term disability benefits.

Jefferies said Tuesday that 铁路s would consider adding paid sick time in the future, 但他表示，这种改变应该等待新一轮的谈判.

The unions maintain that 铁路s can easily afford to add paid sick time at a time when they are recording record profits. Several of the big 铁路s involved in these contract talks reported more than $1 billion profit in the third quarter.

“坦率地说, the fact that paid leave is not part of the final agreement between 铁路s and labor is, 在我看来, 淫秽,众议员说。. 吉姆·麦戈文，马萨诸塞州民主党人.

大多数铁路工人没有带薪病假, but they do have short-term disability benefits that kick in after as little as four days and can replace some of their income for a year or more. 铁路工人也有假期和事假, but workers say it's difficult to use those for illnesses because they must typically be approved far ahead of time.

在众议院, 共和党人对阻止罢工的措施表示支持, but criticized the Biden administration for turning to Congress to "step in to fix the mess." Some 79 Republicans voted with the overwhelming majority of Democrats for the bill binding the parties to the tentative settlement.

但共和党人批评佩洛西决定将病假法案加入其中, 只有三个人投了赞成票. They said the Biden administration's own special board of arbitrators recommended higher wages to compensate the unions for not including sick time in its recommendations.

"Why do we even have the system set up the way it is if Congress is going to come in and make changes to all of the recommendations?众议员说。. 萨姆·格雷夫斯，R-Mo.

佩洛西试图将民主党人和拜登政府定位为工会的捍卫者, 但她表示，国会需要进行干预，以避免罢工.

"Families wouldn't be able to buy groceries or life-saving medications because it would be even more expensive and perishable goods would spoil before reaching shelves,佩洛西说.

The compromise agreement that was supported by the 铁路s and a majority of the unions provides for 24% raises and $5,奖金可追溯至2020年，奖金总额为6000万英镑，并额外提供一天带薪休假. 这将是铁路工人40多年来获得的最大加薪. 工人将不得不支付更大份额的医疗保险费用, 但他们的保费上限为保险计划总成本的15%. The agreement did not resolve workers' concerns about schedules that make it hard to take a day off and the lack of more paid sick time.

在过去的几个场合, Congress has intervened in labor disputes by enacting legislation to delay or prohibit railway and airline strikes.