AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed the effort by Congress to avert a railway strike and the need for all workers to have access to paid sick leave.
At the time of the interview, a bill to impose the tentative Collective Bargaining Agreement on the railroad unions, including four who voted to reject it, had passed the U.S. House and Senate and was awaiting President Biden’s signature. Another bill to that would give railway workers seven sick days passed the House, but stalled in the Senate.
It is a difficult situation, but the CBA is the best contract railroad workers negotiated in years and includes a 24 percent pay raise over five years, Redmond said. The proposed CBA will improve the lives of railway workers, but the fight for paid sick leave continues, he added.
Redmond believes businesses will come to realize paid sick leave is an essential benefit to retain employes. He decried that the U.S. is the only industrialized nation in the world that does not mandate paid sick leave for workers.
Redmond also talked about the Georgia run-off election and his expectations for what Congress can accomplish during the lame-duck session.
Listen to the entire episode to learn more about these topics.