The deadline for President Joe Biden to intervene and keep 115,000 railroad workers from going on strike and disrupting deliveries of cars, crops, containers of imported goods, and countless other products and raw materials is looming. July 18th at 12:01 am to be exact.
Biden is widely expected to name a board of arbitrators to review the contract dispute and make recommendations on how to settle it before Monday’s deadline. Once he does that, any strike or lockout will be delayed 60 days under the federal law that governs railroad contract talks. A White House official said the Biden administration is going through the standard process to decide whether to appoint this special board to intervene in the contract talks.