National Railroad Strike Averted; Affected Floridians Relieved

FLORIDA — Fears of supply chain shortages in Florida were dispelled Thursday morning when President Joe Biden announced that an economically devastating national freight railroad strike had been averted following a tentative agreement between railroads and the unions Wednesday night.

As the 12:01 a.m. Friday strike deadline approached, the railroads and union representatives hammered out a deal during a 20-hour negotiating session at the Labor Department Wednesday.

Earlier this week, the threat of a railroad strike, the first such strike in 30 years, had Florida business owners stocking up on supplies and farmers rushing to get their produce to market in the wake of warnings from industry analysts that a strike would disrupt freight train deliveries around the nation.

The threat also had Floridians scrambling to revise travel arrangements as Amtrak canceled its long-distance routes in preparation for a strike.

In a statement issued shortly after Biden's announcement, Amtrack said it "is working to quickly restore canceled trains and reaching out directly to impacted customers to accommodate on first available departures."

The Amtrak workers weren't involved in the labor dispute, but the passenger rail service uses the tracks that would have shut down freight lines across the country, including Amtrak's three routes in Florida: the Auto Train, Silver Meteor and Silver Star.

The Florida Department of Transportation also expressed concerns that a strike would impact Florida's only state-operated commuter train, SunRail, which has 16 stations serving nearly 4,000 passengers a day in Volusia, Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties

A railroad industry trade group said shutting down the nation’s railroads would halt shipments of food and fuel at a cost of $2 billion a day.

See related story: National Railroad Strike Looms: What It Means In Florida

According to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Biden had conversations with both sides as they were negotiating with Labor Secretary Marty Walsh Wednesday night and appealed to them to consider the harm of a strike to families, farmers and businesses.

"So, this morning Secretary Walsh is hosting the rail companies and unions in Washington, D.C., at the Department of Labor," Jean-Pierre said. "The president and members of Cabinet have been in touch with both unions and companies involved multiple times in order to try to avert a rail shutdown. A shutdown of our freight rail system is an unacceptable outcome for our economy and the American people. And our continued message stays the same, which is that they need to continue to negotiate at the table in good faith."

"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 has kept us going during these difficult years," Biden said in a news release from the White House.

"These rail workers will get better pay, improved working conditions, and peace of mind around their health care costs: all hard-earned," he said. "The agreement is also a victory for railway companies, which 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."

The five-year deal, retroactive to 2020, includes the 24 percent raises and $5,000 in bonuses that a Presidential Emergency Board recommended this summer. But railroads also agreed to ease their strict attendance policies. Railroad workers will now be able to take unpaid days off for doctor’s appointments without being penalized under railroad attendance rules.

Previously, workers would lose points under the attendance systems that the BNSF and Union Pacific railways had adopted, and they could be disciplined if they lost all their points.

Biden extended his gratitude to Cabinet members for their work hammering out the tentative agreement that "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."

He called out Walsh in particular for "his tireless, around-the-clock efforts that delivered a win for the hard-working people of the U.S. rail industry" and for keeping "Americans on the job in all the industries in this country that are touched by this vital industry."

The tentative agreement still has to go to union members for a vote after a post-ratification cooling-off period of several weeks.