Labour movement

Joe Biden faced a test of his pro-union claims with a threatened strike on the railroad. Some believe he failed it, Richard Hall reports.

And I don’t think this is a pro-labour decision – to put us back to work without addressing the issues that we were asking to be addressed,” Mr Grooters said. In a separate vote, Republicans blocked the provision of seven days paid sick leave – a key demand and underlying cause for the threatened strike. Yet when the steel hits the rail, they back the powerful and wealthy Class One rail carriers every time,” RWU General Secretary Jason Doering said in the statement. A Gallup poll in September 2020 found that some 65 per cent of Americans approved of labour unions – the highest it had been since 2003. On his very first day in office, he placed a bust of labour leader Cesar Chavez behind his desk. From early in his presidency, Mr Biden demonstrated his support for the labour movement, both in word and deed.