December 1, 2022
No fright rail strike. The Senate has just voted to force rail unions and rail carriers to accept a labor agreement negotiated back in September. But it does *not* include the paid sick leave the unions wanted.
The final vote was 80-15. Rand Paul voted present. 4 Senators were not present.
The Senate took up two amendments – one to delay the strike and force the unions and rail carriers to continue the negotiations and the second was the 7 days of paid sick leave amendment that was passed in the house. Both of those amendments failed. The sick leave amendment only failed by 8 votes with several Republicans also voting yes.
Though the organized labor strike won’t happen next week lots of rail union members are still unhappy. In remarks today, President Biden says he’s not giving up on mandating paid sick leave for not just rail workers but all American workers.
