Biden says railways, freight workers reach deal to avert strike


President Biden said Thursday morning that a tentative labor deal has been hammered out between rail worker unions and freight railway companies to avert a strike that threatened to disrupt commuter and passenger train service and worsen supply-chain delays.
Biden said the tentative agreement would "keep our critical rail system working and avoid disruption of our economy." Rail workers will get better pay, working conditions, and health-care-cost "peace of mind," he said, while railways would win, too, because they will be able to "retain and recruit more workers." The agreement came after Amtrak said it was canceling long-distance passenger trains starting Thursday, ahead of a 12:01 a.m. Friday deadline for an agreement. Industry groups have halted some grain shipments.
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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.
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