In 1992, two days into a crippling railroad strike, then-Sen. Joe Biden
came to the Senate floor and decried the lopsided nature of federal
labor laws dealing with the rail industry — laws, he argued, that
essentially allowed corporations, regulators and, ultimately, Congress
to run roughshod over workers.

“We need to restore a measure of balance to these negotiations,” he
said, before voting with just five other senators against halting the
strike.

Thirty years later, as president, Biden is turning to those very same
laws to prevent another strike and impose a tentative contract agreement
that his administration brokered but multiple rail unions voted to
reject.

“As a proud pro-labor President, I am reluctant to override the
ratification procedures and the views of those who voted against the
agreement,” the president said in a statement. “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.”

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