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Rail workers see cuts in benefits due to previous debt ceiling deal
ECONOMY
Rail workers see cuts in benefits due to previous debt ceiling deal
Reductions in unemployment and sick benefits have kicked in due to a Congress-imposed agreement, even as Washington tries shore up shaky relations with railroad labor
By Lauren Kaori Gurley
Updated May 12, 2023 at 7:47 a.m. EDT | Published May 12, 2023 at 7:09 a.m. EDT
Crew members on a Union Pacific freight train work south of Tucson in 2020. (David Boe/AP)
Railroad workers across the United States had their sick and unemployment benefits cut on Wednesday, in reductions that had been paused for more than two years as part of pandemic aid tied to the coronavirus national emergency that Congress ended last month. ... Freight and passenger railroad workers will now receive a 5.7 percent reduction to their unemployment and sick benefits, which are administered by the federal government, through September 2031.
The cuts, part of a previous agreement to avert a national disaster on the debt ceiling back in 2011, are resurfacing as another debt ceiling crisis has embroiled Democrats and Republicans in a new fight.
The cuts to the country’s 150,000 railroad workers’ benefits are happening as Washington leaders have been trying to shore up shaky relations with railroad labor groups. Rail workers have been angry with President Biden, the self-proclaimed “most pro-labor president,” and Congress for imposing a labor contract that lacked paid sick leave beyond one paid personal day, to avert a catastrophic rail strike.
Then the derailment of a freight train carrying toxic chemicals in Ohio in February further exacerbated concerns from labor. This week’s benefit reductions mark yet another blow from Washington to railroad workers, rail union officials say. ... “How do we trust our public servants when they’re misguided on stuff like this?" said Matt Weaver, a rail carpenter foreman near Toledo, who has worked on the railroads for 28 years. “It’s taking so long for them make this right."
{snip}
By Lauren Kaori Gurley
Lauren Kaori Gurley is the labor reporter for The Washington Post. She previously covered labor and tech for Vice's Motherboard. Twitter https://twitter.com/laurenkgurley
Rail workers see cuts in benefits due to previous debt ceiling deal
Reductions in unemployment and sick benefits have kicked in due to a Congress-imposed agreement, even as Washington tries shore up shaky relations with railroad labor
By Lauren Kaori Gurley
Updated May 12, 2023 at 7:47 a.m. EDT | Published May 12, 2023 at 7:09 a.m. EDT
Crew members on a Union Pacific freight train work south of Tucson in 2020. (David Boe/AP)
Railroad workers across the United States had their sick and unemployment benefits cut on Wednesday, in reductions that had been paused for more than two years as part of pandemic aid tied to the coronavirus national emergency that Congress ended last month. ... Freight and passenger railroad workers will now receive a 5.7 percent reduction to their unemployment and sick benefits, which are administered by the federal government, through September 2031.
The cuts, part of a previous agreement to avert a national disaster on the debt ceiling back in 2011, are resurfacing as another debt ceiling crisis has embroiled Democrats and Republicans in a new fight.
The cuts to the country’s 150,000 railroad workers’ benefits are happening as Washington leaders have been trying to shore up shaky relations with railroad labor groups. Rail workers have been angry with President Biden, the self-proclaimed “most pro-labor president,” and Congress for imposing a labor contract that lacked paid sick leave beyond one paid personal day, to avert a catastrophic rail strike.
Then the derailment of a freight train carrying toxic chemicals in Ohio in February further exacerbated concerns from labor. This week’s benefit reductions mark yet another blow from Washington to railroad workers, rail union officials say. ... “How do we trust our public servants when they’re misguided on stuff like this?" said Matt Weaver, a rail carpenter foreman near Toledo, who has worked on the railroads for 28 years. “It’s taking so long for them make this right."
{snip}
By Lauren Kaori Gurley
Lauren Kaori Gurley is the labor reporter for The Washington Post. She previously covered labor and tech for Vice's Motherboard. Twitter https://twitter.com/laurenkgurley
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