Biden breathed a sigh of relief as Congress avoided a catastrophic general strike

　　BEIJING, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) According to Reuters, on the 1st local time, the U.S. Senate passed a bill to avert a disastrous national rail strike after President Joe Biden warned Congress that inaction would cause serious damage. economic consequences.

Data map: US President Biden.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Mengtong

　　According to reports, the U.S. Senate passed a bill by a vote of 80 to 15 on the 1st to impose a preliminary agreement finalized by freight railroad companies and employees in September on more than a dozen unions representing 115,000 workers. Go on strike.

The bill had just been approved by the House of Representatives a day earlier.

　　The bill now goes to President Biden, who will become law once he signs it.

At that point, any strike would be considered illegal and strikers could be fired.

　　Eight of the previous 12 union groups had agreed to the agreement.

However, due to the lack of appropriate paid sick leave provisions in the agreement, some union leaders strongly criticized Biden for asking Congress to enforce the agreement.

　　In his statement, Biden praised Congress for taking action to avoid a devastating blow to workers' families, saying: "We averted this Christmas disaster in our grocery stores, in our workplaces and in our communities."

　　It is reported that the rail strike may affect 30% of US freight and trigger more serious inflation, costing the US economy as much as $2 billion a day and stranded millions of passengers.

　　On November 30, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill to stop the railroad strike.

But paid sick leave has been up in the air, with the union asking for 15 days and the railroad agreeing to only one day, and the House of Representatives alone voted to require seven days of paid sick leave for railroad workers.

But the vote did not receive the required 60 votes in the Senate, nor was it approved by the White House.

　　In response, Association of American Railroads CEO Ian Jeffries said in a statement, "None of the parties has achieved everything they advocated for... There is no doubt that to further address the work-life balance of our employees, There is more work to be done.”