Joe Biden has a rather significant problem on his hands.
Four of the 12 unions representing railroad workers are not happy with the deal the administration worked out before the election.
The problem, however, is that Biden is calling for Congress to pass legislation that will force the contract through to prevent a strike.
That is not exactly what one would expect from a “pro-union” president.
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Biden is definitely between a rock and a hard place here.
He needs to be union-friendly, but at the same time, if a rail strike happens, it would crush the economy and cost hundreds of thousands of American workers their jobs.
This does not even take into account the impact it would have on our supply chain.
So, Biden is now a union buster, stating, “I asked the four top leaders in Congress whether they’d be willing to come in and talk about what we’re going to do between now and Christmas in terms of legislation.
“And there is a lot to do, including resolving the train strike … And Congress I think has to act to prevent it.
“It’s not an easy call, but I think we have to do it.”
The unions that ratified the deal support Biden pushing this over to Congress, but he has four other unions that are livid and kicking up a lot of dirt.
For instance, Railroad Workers United Treasurer Hugh Sawyer stated, “Joe Biden blew it.
“He had the opportunity to prove his labor-friendly pedigree to millions of workers by simply asking Congress for legislation to end the threat of a national strike on terms more favorable to workers. Sadly, he could not bring himself to advocate for a lousy handful of sick days.
“The Democrats and Republicans are both pawns of big business and the corporations.”
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) had the right idea here in offering empathy to the union workers.
There is really nothing Republicans can do to stop this from going through Congress, as Senator McConnell (R-KY) will rally his usual group of RINOs to pass the bill, but speaking up might go a long way to garnering some union support for Republicans.
To that point, Rubio stated, “Just because Congress has the authority to impose a heavy-handed solution does not mean we should.
“It is wrong for the Biden administration, which has failed to fight for workers, to ask Congress to impose a deal the workers themselves have rejected.”
Source: New York Post
