Senate Passes HJ Res 100 – Railroad Agreement

Yesterday the Senate, after rejecting two associated measures, passed HJ Res 100, To provide for a resolution with respect to the unresolved disputes between certain railroads represented by the National Carriers' Conference Committee of the National Railway Labor Conference and certain of their employees, by a bipartisan vote of 80 to 15. The measure now goes to President Biden for signature, which will likely take place today.

The first associated vote was on an amendment to HJ Res 100 (SA 6503) offered by Sen Sullivan (R,AK). The substitute language offered in the amendment would have required the railroads and unions to resume contract negotiations for an additional 60-days to achieve a new tentative agreement. That amendment failed on a vote of 25 to 70.

H Con Res 119, the resolution passed in the House that would amend the enrolled version of HJ Res 100 to require language to be added to the tentative agreement enforced by the resolution to provide for 7-days sick leave in the contracts. That resolution failed on a vote of 52 to 43 (60 vote threshold).

House Passes Rail Strike Legislation

Yesterday the House passed both HJ Res 100 and H Con Res 119, the two resolutions that would stop the railroad unions starting a strike on December 6^th. HJ Res 100 passed by a recorded vote of 290 to 137. H Con Res 119 passed by a recorded vote of 221 to 207.

Resolution Provisions

HJ Res 100 would impose upon the railroads and their unions the tentative agreement reached between the parties that was based upon the recommendations of Presidential Emergency Board No. 250 issued on August 16, 2022, whether or not the unions ratified that agreement.

H Con Res 119 would amend the enrolled version (the version to be sent to the President for signature) of HJ Res 100, inserting a new §1(b), Paid Sick Leave. The new subsection would modify the ‘tentative agreement’ by adding language providing for 7 days of paid sick leave and a requirement that the use of such sick leave “will not result in any points, demerits, or disciplinary citations under any party's attendance policy.”

H Con Res 119 would also insert a new §2, Negotiations and Arbitration. This new section would require the parties to the ’tentative agreement’ to “negotiate the implementation of the 7 days of paid sick leave imposed on such parties by section 1(b).” If the negotiations are not successful within 30 days of passage of HJ Res 100, the parties would be required to “enter into binding arbitration on such matter to provide for a final resolution of such unresolved matter.”

Moving Forward

The two resolutions now move to the Senate for consideration. The Senate will certainly take up HJ Res 100. The bipartisan vote in the House almost certainly means that the Senate will have enough votes for a successful cloture vote on the resolution. There will be enough votes for passage, even though many of those yeah votes will cause some internal political consternation, but no one wants a railroad work stoppage.

The consideration of H Con Res 119 is not as certain. There will be significant Republican opposition to the second resolution. It is not clear at this juncture if there will be ten Republicans that would vote for H Con Res 119

House to Consider Two Rail Strike Resolutions

The House is scheduled to take up two resolutions today concerning the potentially impending railroad strike; HJ Res 100 and H Con Res 119. The first would make binding the agreements reached by railroad managements and labor union leaders earlier this year, whether or not the union membership approved those deals. The second would amend the first, effectively adding 7-days paid sick leave to those agreements. A vote on that amendment is believed to be necessary to placate a large number of Democrats that are loath to force union membership to accept labor deals. 

If passed, the Senate would be expected to take up HJ Res 100 next week.