The Senate on Thursday began a series of votes on how to avert a looming strike of the nation’s railway workers.
Senators will vote on three outcomes to address the labor dispute: whether to institute a 60-day extension of the cooling-off period between both sides, whether to grant workers seven days of paid sick leave and a whether to approve a House bill that would force workers to accept a tentative agreement brokered in September.
The Senate’s move to try and end the labor dispute between freight employees and their bosses comes as the White House has emphasized that they believe the chamber needs to send legislation “by this weekend” to avert a work stoppage or the nation could see potentially “devastating effects,” given how much of the economy relies on rail to move goods.
The workers’ unions have reacted with open dismay, they said, at the government’s intervention and Biden has described himself as a “proud pro-labor” president who made a difficult decision for the good of the larger economy.
The House passed a tentative rail labor agreement and separate legislation to add seven paid sick days for workers on Wednesday. They voted 290-137 to adopt the deal between the rail companies and employees that was negotiated by the White House and 221-207 for the sick leave– a key provision in addressing progressive Democrats’ concerns to further protect workers.
It’s unclear how long the votes will take.
The Senate is expected only to approve the third option — passing the House bill to force a deal in order to try and avoid a strike.
The first vote, on the cooling off period, failed 69-26.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has been urging his colleagues to consider boosting paid leave provisions for the rail workers and spoke on the floor between votes.
“Workers who do difficult and dangerous work have zero paid sick days. Zero. You get sick, you’ve got a mark against you. Couple of marks, you get fired. This cannot and must not happen in America in 2022,” he said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the commencement of votes after a luncheon meeting with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh concluded.
“I’m very glad that the two sides got together to avoid a shutdown which would be devastating for the American people, the American economy and so many workers across the country,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
President Joe Biden said on Thursday that Congress will get a deal done to avert a railroad shutdown, but that paid sick leave for those union workers will not be “within this agreement.”
He warned that if the nation’s rails were to shut down over disputes over paid sick time, “it’s going to immediately cost 750,000 jobs and cause a recession.”
“I think we’re going to get it done. But not within this agreement. Not with this agreement. We’re going to avoid the rail strike, keep the rails running, keep things moving, and I’m going to go back and we’re going to get paid leave, not just for rail workers but for all workers.”
The Transportation Trades Department, an larger union group for the AFL-CIO, on Thursday said they “unequivocally and wholeheartedly” did not support a cooling off period extension past the current deadline of Dec. 9.
“Freight railroads have made it clear that they are not interested in further negotiations with rail unions. Thus, any proposal to further extend the cooling off period would yield zero progress. Rather, an extension would simply allow the railroads to maintain their status quo operations while prolonging the workforce’s suffering,” Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, president and secretary-treasurer of TTD, said in a joint statement.
This is a developing story. Please return for updates.
ABC News’ Justin Gomez contributed to this report.