Biden Says Tentative Railway Labor Agreement Reached

LOADING ERROR LOADING WASHINGTON — Rail companies and their workers reached a tentative agreement Thursday to avert a nationwide strike that could have shut down the nation’s freight trains and devastated the economy less than two months before the midterm elections. Joined in the Oval Office by business and union leaders, a beaming Biden joked that he was surprised everyone was “still standing” after the late night and that they should be “home in bed.” A strike would also have disrupted passenger traffic as well as freight, because Amtrak and many commuter railroads operate on tracks owned by the freight railroads. President Joe Biden speaks about a tentative railway labor agreement in the Rose Garden of the White House, Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, in Washington. Before the deal was reached, business groups including the Business Roundtable and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce were predicting that a rail strike would be an “economic disaster.” The Association of American Railroads trade group estimated that a rail strike would cost the economy more than $2 billion a day and force many businesses to scale back or cease production and consider layoffs. American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear said the rail deal “permits our supply chain to continue climbing out of this COVID-induced rut.” With the economy still recovering from the pandemic’s supply chain disruptions, the president’s goal was to keep all parties talking so a deal could be reached.