WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed legislation imposing a deal he negotiated between freight railroads and organized labor, averting a possible strike but risking a divide with rank-and-file union workers who opposed the settlement.
“It was tough for me,” said Biden at a signing ceremony at the White House on Friday, while heralding the bill as the only option to avert a disastrous work stoppage that would have threatened key supply chains ahead of the Christmas holiday. “It was the right thing to do at the moment, to save jobs to protect millions of working families from harm and destruction, and to keep supply chain stable around the holidays.”
But the president risks alienating labor activists and workers who have long proven key political allies, further undermining the relationship between Democrats and the white working class, and fomenting pressure to deliver on a key promise — expanding paid sick leave — that ranks as unlikely-to-impossible as Republicans take control of the House of Representatives in the new Congress.
