(Reuters) -Major U.S. railroads and unions representing 115,000 of their workers reached a tentative agreement giving them better pay and improved working conditions, U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement on Thursday.
Biden administration officials on Wednesday night hosted labor contract talks to avert a potential rail shutdown that could disrupt cargo shipments and impede food and fuel supplies.
“It is a win for tens of thousands of rail workers who worked tirelessly through the pandemic to ensure that America’s families and communities got deliveries of what have kept us going during these difficult years,” Biden said.
Shares of U.S. railroad operators rose between 2.4% and 2.9% in early trade.
(Reporting by Jahnavi Nidumolu in Bengaluru; editing by Jason Neely and Devika Syamnath)
