For months, the BLET and other unions had pushed for fifteen paid sick days for rail workers. Currently, railroaders get none. In those final hours before their strike deadline on September 15, the union agreed instead to accept three unpaid sick days, with thirty days notice, to be taken on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.

With Dennis Pierce standing next to him in the oval office, Joe Biden told the press, “They feel good. These guys, by the way, they’re still standing but they should be home in bed. Twenty straight hours [of negotiations]. I want to thank business and labor.”

Pierce then advocated for his membership to support the deal. “Contracts between the railroads and their employees have never had sick time,” he said in a separate interview. “There are a lot of industries don’t have that in their contract.” Asked if he would support the deal, Pierce replied, “I probably would.”

Pierce was indeed able to get the contract ratified, but it may have cost him his job.