Here's my take.Biden said that as a “a proud pro-labor president” he was reluctant to override the views of people who voted against the agreement. “But in this case — where the economic impact of a shutdown would hurt millions of other working people and families — I believe Congress must use its powers to adopt this deal.”
Biden’s remarks and Pelosi’s statement came after a coalition of more than 400 business groups sent a letter to congressional leaders Monday urging them to step into the stalled talks because of fears about the devastating potential impact of a strike that could force many businesses to shut down if they can’t get the rail deliveries they need. Commuter railroads and Amtrak would also be affected in a strike because many of them use tracks owned by the freight railroads.
The business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers and National Retail Federation said even a short-term strike would have a tremendous impact and the economic pain would start to be felt even before the Dec. 9 strike deadline.
While I do back the workers, and believe they should get relief from the onerous company policies, the workers are holding a busted flush and have little to no leverage on this. Union negotiating committees for all the member unions accepted the Biden-brokered deal, and most workers accepted it. And the union negotiators hailed the deal. Of course, unions being democratic, in four unions the workers demanded more.
Plus, Biden has little to no leverage to demand more of the rail company. Having forced the companies into accepting demands they didn't want to concede, he can't go back to that well again.
The President and the Dems have little recourse but to force acceptance of the negotiated settlement.