On Thursday, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville voted for a bipartisan resolution to avert a nationwide rail strike. Tuberville voted in support of a resolution that would make terms of a temporary agreement between the country’s rail labor unions and their employers binding on all parties.
Proponents argue that a freight rail strike of this magnitude could cost America’s economy as much as $2 billion a day.
“I continue to believe labor negotiations should be independent from government interference, but the dire economic consequences of a rail strike required, what I hope, is a rare intervention by Congress,” said Sen. Tuberville. “After the Biden administration tried and failed to mediate negotiations, our economy was left on the edge of a crisis. I voted to approve the agreement because the American people cannot afford a supply chain disruption that would exacerbate the inflation crisis created by Democrats’ spending agenda. In the absence of leadership from the White House, Congress had to step in to protect the American people.”
In addition to the vote on the temporary agreement, the Senate held two votes related to the rail strike negotiations — one on a provision to extend the “cooling-off” period for 60 days and another on a provision to give workers seven days of paid sick leave. Tuberville voted in support of the provision to extend the negotiation period by 60 days because his preferred solution to this crisis has always been for management and workers to negotiate without congressional intervention. This vote failed. In September, the parties appeared to have a binding agreement, and Congress gave them time to go through the ratification process at the twelve unions that are involved in this. That did not happen, sending it back to Congress to either force a settlement or allow the unions to go out on strike – in the middle of winter and weeks prior to Christmas. Congress, with the support of President Joe Biden, passed the resolution to end the strike.
Tuberville voted against the provision to provide seven days of sick leave to workers on the grounds that those issues should have been negotiated between the unions and the railroads. The Senate agreed, and that provision was rejected by the Senate. The Unions had lobbied Democrats to include the provision, while the railroads had lobbied Republicans to block the controversial proposal.
The Senate voted 80 to 15 to force the settlement and block the strike. The House of Representatives voted in favor of this resolution on Wednesday, so it now moves to the President’s desk, where he is expected to sign it.
Tuberville represents Alabama in the Senate in the U.S. Senate, where he is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veteran Affairs, and HELP Committees.
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