Tentative Deal Reached To Keep Rail Workers On The Job Transcript

Speaker 1: (00:00) We want to start with that breaking news coming out just a short time ago, actually, a tentative deal to avert a rail strike. Speaker 2: (00:06) Why don't we take a live look at Penn Station right here in New York. People there are heading to work this morning like every morning. A strike would've impacted those commutes, impacted the supply chain, and could have cost the American economy $2 billion per day. Speaker 2: (00:21) The president announced the deal was reached just after 5:00 this morning, Eastern. That was after 20 hours of negotiations. NBC's chief White House correspondent, Peter Alexander, has the very latest. Peter, what do we know about this deal, how it came to be early this morning? Speaker 3: (00:36) Yeah. Hoda, this crisis averted at just the last minute. The announcement coming early this morning as you noted from the president that a tentative deal was reached to avoid what would've been a crippling rail strike, the first in 30 years. The White House had feared a shut down would've caused massive disruptions across the country, including supply chain backups when the US can least afford it. President Biden writing that the deal is a "win for tens of thousands of rail workers who work tirelessly through the pandemic." He says, "They'll get better pay, improved working conditions, and peace of mind around their healthcare costs." He also praised the rail companies here. Speaker 3: (01:14) This tentative agreement, the handshake I'm told, coming at 2:30 this morning, according to aids, came after 20 consecutive hours of face-to-face negotiations led by the labor secretary, Marty Walsh, that included what a source describes as a crucial call from President Biden late last night. Walsh had warned that a strike would've been, in his words, catastrophic. And just consider the consequences, 40% of this country's product shipped long distance are moved by rail from auto parts to lumber to the food that we eat. And we'd already seen the possible implications, Hoda, with Amtrak preemptively canceling three long-distance train routes beginning today, Hoda. Speaker 2: (01:53) Peter, you said a tentative deal, à la handshake. So when does it become official? Speaker 3: (01:57) Yeah. So as you note, it is still tentative. This still needs to go to the union membership for a vote. There is one key part of this agreement we should note, that there will be, what they call, a cooling-off period of sorts for several weeks to ensure that even if a vote fails here, that there is not an immediate shutdown. So the bottom line this morning, good news for the economy, certainly, if this holds. A major relief as well for the president, less than two months before the midterms, Hoda. Speaker 2: (02:22) All right. Peter Alexander for us there with that breaking news out of the White House. Peter, thank you. Speaker 4: (02:28) Hey, thanks for watching our YouTube channel. Find your favorite recipes, celebrity interviews, uplifting stories, shop our favorite deals, and so much more with the Today app. Download it now.