{"id":3008,"date":"2023-01-01T04:41:47","date_gmt":"2023-01-01T10:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=3008"},"modified":"2023-03-14T02:51:03","modified_gmt":"2023-03-14T07:51:03","slug":"top-10-stories-of-2022-no-1-rail-labor-and-the-near-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=3008","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 stories of 2022: No. 1, Rail labor and the near strike<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"

The conclusion of our countdown of the\u00a0Trains\u00a0News Wire Top 10 stories of 2022, as determined by a vote of\u00a0Trains\u00a0editors, columnists, and masthead correspondents.
\nRailroads were catapulted into national headlines in the fall as labor negotiations came down to the wire, raising the prospect of the first strike or lockout in three decades.
\nAfter nearly three years of fruitless negotiations between a dozen labor unions and the railroads, the Biden Administration in July appointed a Presidential Emergency Board to make contract recommendations.
\nThe PEB in August recommended a 24% wage increase, along with $5,000 in service recognition bonus payments, over the five-year life of the contract retroactive to Jan. 1, 2020. That was below the 28% increase the unions sought, but above the railroads\u2019 16% proposed wage hike. The board also recommended that railroads and unions sort out working conditions issues, including scheduling and sick time, on the local level.
\nHours before a Sept. 16 strike deadline, unions and the National Carriers\u2019 Conference Committee that represents the U.S. Class I railroads reached a deal with the assistance of the White House, including Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.
\nBut four unions ultimately rejected the tentative agreements with the railroads, setting up the prospect of a strike as early as Dec. 9.
\nTo prevent a strike that would have crippled the rail network, added more kinks to already snarled supply chains, and hurt broad sectors of the economy, Congress passed legislation that imposed the PEB\u2019s contract recommendations. A separate measure that would have added paid sick time failed to pass.
\nPresident Joe Biden on Dec. 2 signed legislation to prevent a strike. \u201cOur nation\u2019s rail system is literally the backbone of our supply chain, as you all well know. And so much of what we rely on is delivered on our rail, from clean water to food and gas and \u2026 every other good. A rail shutdown would have devastated our economy,\u201d Biden said.
\n\u201cWe ensured workers are going to get a historic 24% wage increase over the next five years, improved working conditions, and peace of mind around their healthcare,\u201d Biden said. \u201cAnd, look, I know this bill doesn\u2019t have paid sick leave that these rail workers and, frankly, every worker in America deserves, but that fight isn\u2019t over.\u201d
\nThe legislation ended the prospect of a strike but it did not solve worsening labor-management relations at the Class I railroads in the U.S. (Canadian Pacific is not part of national negotiations in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Trains<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The conclusion of our countdown of the\u00a0Trains\u00a0News Wire Top 10 stories of 2022, as determined by a vote of\u00a0Trains\u00a0editors, columnists, and masthead correspondents. Railroads were catapulted into national headlines in the fall as labor negotiations came down to the wire, raising the prospect of the first strike or lockout in three decades. After nearly three […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3009,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2074,3259,3258,3260,1378,1246,1139],"class_list":["post-3008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-economy","tag-kansas-city","tag-negotiations","tag-railroad-system","tag-strike","tag-wages","tag-workers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3008"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7432,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3008\/revisions\/7432"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}