Business groups ask Biden to intervene in rail labor negotiations

A coalition of hundreds of business groups representing a wide range of industries has signed a letter asking President Joe Biden to help keep railroads and labor unions at the bargaining table to avoid a potential freight-rail strike.

The businesses are growing increasingly concerned that all 12 unions involved in negotiating a new contract with the nation’s major freight railroads will fail to approve a tentative agreement that negotiators reached Sept. 15.

The tentative agreement followed the recommendations of the Presidential Emergency Board that Biden established in July. 

Although six labor unions have voted to ratify the pact, two unions — the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division of the IBT (BMWED) and the Brotherhood of Railway Signalmen — voted this month to reject it, raising concerns that others will follow. 

"If that were to be the case, we could witness a strike that would shut down the entire freight-rail system," according to the letter, a copy of which was made public by the American Chemistry Council (ACC). "Because the White House played such a central role in the process, we believe it can be helpful in continuing to move the process forward in a positive direction."

All 12 unions have to ratify the agreement for it to take effect. 

"The stakes are very high for the chemical industry since our members rely on freight rail and they will be one of the first industries impacted if the threat of a potential strike grows and forces railroads to scale back service," ACC officials said in a press release. The ACC is among the trade groups that signed the letter to Biden.

Leaders of the two unions that rejected the tentative agreement have said members who voted "no" are concerned about it lacking paid sick time.

After the BMWED members rejected ratification, the union asked that the agreement accommodate additional benefits, including paid sick leave. However, the National Carriers' Conference Committee, which represents the major freight railroads in collective bargaining, turned down the BMWED’s request.

The Association of American Railroads estimates a freight-rail strike would cost the U.S. economy more than $2 billion a day.