Railroads and unions agree to deal, avoiding a potentially catastrophic shutdown.

Railroads and labor unions reached a tentative agreement Thursday preventing a strike that would have made supply chain issues even worse. The five-year deal includes raises for workers and addresses union concerns about working conditions, time off and schedules. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh was heavily involved in the negotiations and joined Amna Nawaz to discuss the deal. . .

Our understanding is that it was a central concern here that not necessarily pay for the workers, but working conditions. They wanted paid sick leave. They wanted medical leave. What does it say to you that they had to threaten a strike, which would have had devastating impacts on the U.S. economy, to get those seemingly simple things?

Marty Walsh, U.S. Secretary of Labor: Yes, what really happened here, this negotiation was going on for two years, and they weren't able to get to an agreement.

The president had to put in place a Presidential Emergency Board, a PEB, they call it, and they came up with a framework around what the contract should be moving forward. Some of those pieces were not in the PEB. . .

It was reported that they ended up with one day of paid sick leave as part of this deal. Is that true?

Marty Walsh:

Well, that's one piece of it. And then there was another part of it that there were three days for — like, for medical, meaning that there's part of the crews that have set time, set standards, three shifts, 7:00 to 3:00, 3:00 to 11:00, 11:00 to 7:00.

And then there's — there's these crews that work when the train goes out. Those folks don't have predictability in their schedule. And, before this contract, they didn't have an ability to set a doctor's appointment, because, if they did a doctor's appointment, and it was in the middle of a week, and they didn't — they went to the doctor's appointment, they would not get a chance to work, because these trains would leave the station.

So they were able to agree on that. They also were able to agree on some rules around work — around working rules in the contract. And then they're also, in the health care, the split — the split for health care is at 85/15. And when the contract expires, what they wanted to do, the unions want to do, is make sure they capped the 15 percent portion at 15 percent, or as high as $398, until the new contract comes in place.'>>>

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/railroads-and-unions-agree-to-deal-avoiding-a-potentially-catastrophic-shutdown