One of the largest rail unions, SMART Transportation Division, announced earlier this month that its members had voted down the tentative deal. Three smaller unions also rejected the contract. Together, the four unions represent more than half of the unionized rail workers.
What do the rail workers want?
A crucial issue in the dispute is a points-based attendance policy adopted by some of the largest carriers earlier this year. Those policies penalize workers,
up to termination, for going to routine doctor’s visits or tending to family emergencies. Conductors and engineers say they can be on call for 14 consecutive days without a break and that they do not receive a single sick day, paid or unpaid.
Rail carriers have said their employees can take time off when they are sick by using paid vacation days, but some unions have said their members are typically asked to schedule time off months in advance.
The tentative deal does not include any sick days. It does include one paid personal day that needs to be scheduled in advance, and some workers would have the ability to call out of work three times a year for doctor’s appointments, which would also need to be scheduled.
“The biggest thing we wanted is sick days,” Steve Sample, 54, a rail maintainer in northern Ohio who voted against the agreement, told The Washington Post. “We get one personal day.”
How could Congress intervene?
Congress can vote to force the rail carriers and unions to adopt the tentative deal. U.S. union members generally have the right to go on strike to pressure companies to offer strong contracts. But the Railway Labor Act of 1926 imposed barriers to such walkouts, including intervention mechanisms from Congress, given the potential economic effects of these work stoppages.