US urges freight railroads to guarantee paid sick leave for all

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Biden administration on Wednesday called on three major freight railroads to guarantee paid sick leave for all workers, saying 10,000 employees do not have the benefit.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su wrote to the CEOs of CSX, Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) <CP.TO> urging them to extend coverage.

They noted that since the end of 2022, the percentage of U.S. rail workers who are guaranteed paid sick leave has risen from 5% to 90%.

"Sick leave for workers is not a luxury — it’s a necessity," said Su.

In 2022, railroads came under fire for not agreeing to paid sick leave during labor negotiations.

In December 2022, President Joe Biden signed legislation to block a national U.S. railroad strike that could have devastated the American economy after some unions voted against the deal over a lack of paid sick leave.

After that, railroads began agreeing in talks with unions to extend paid sick leave. By June 2023, 60% of rail workers had paid sick leave, a rail trade group said.

CSX CEO Joe Hinrichs said in a letter to the officials that two unions have not agreed to the same basic paid sick leave agreements that all other unions have agreed.

"We have offered the same constructive paid sick leave agreements to these unions on multiple occasions," Hinrichs said. "We were the first and only railroad to work with the unions to breakthrough on these paid sick leave agreements."

CPKC, which does not negotiate with other railroads jointly on nearly all issues, said it remains committed to and continues to negotiate the issue of sick leave with its U.S. unions and noted it has 65 separate collective bargaining agreements.

"We have sent formal sick leave offers to multiple unions," the carrier said.

CN did not immediately comment.

(Reporting by David ShepardsonEditing by Marguerita Choy)