Reporter: Why Didn’t You Negotiate for Paid Sick Leave? Biden: “I Love You Guys” — Then Blames Republicans While Claiming Credit for a “Contract No One Else Could Negotiate”

On 12/1/2022, at the joint press conference with French President Macron, a reporter asked Biden directly: “Do the freight rail workers deserve more than one day of paid sick leave, like millions of Americans have? And if so, why didn’t you negotiate for that when you were helping to negotiate that contract that you now want Congress to impose?” Biden’s response opened with “I love you guys,” followed by “I negotiated a contract no one else could negotiate” — before immediately blaming “that other team, they called the Republicans” for blocking paid leave legislation. The exchange captured Biden’s pattern of simultaneously taking credit for the contract’s benefits while deflecting blame for its failures to Republicans — even though the specific failure (no paid sick leave) occurred during the September negotiation that Biden personally led.

”Do Rail Workers Deserve Paid Sick Leave?”

The reporter’s question was devastatingly precise. “President Biden, do the freight rail workers deserve more than one day of paid sick leave, like millions of Americans have? And if so, why didn’t you negotiate for that when you were helping to negotiate that contract that you now want Congress to impose?” the reporter asked.

The question had two parts, each of which required a direct answer:

First: Do rail workers deserve paid sick leave? This was a moral question about whether workers should have a basic benefit that most Americans took for granted. The answer from a “pro-union president” should have been an unequivocal “yes.”

Second: Why didn’t the administration negotiate for paid sick leave when it had the opportunity? This was an accountability question. Biden had personally intervened in the September negotiations. He had praised the resulting agreement as a “big win.” But the agreement he praised didn’t include the paid sick leave workers wanted. The reporter was asking why.

”I Love You Guys”

Biden’s opening response was a deflection through humor. “I love you guys,” Biden said — apparently addressing the press corps rather than responding to the substance of the question. The phrase was Biden’s way of acknowledging a tough question without answering it, using folksy charm to buy time.

”A Contract No One Else Could Negotiate”

Biden’s substantive response began with a credit claim. “I negotiated a contract no one else could negotiate,” Biden said.

The claim was bold and arguably inaccurate. Previous administrations had intervened in railroad labor disputes through various mechanisms. The Railway Labor Act provides a structured process for government involvement in rail negotiations. Biden’s intervention was not unprecedented; it was a standard use of existing tools.

More importantly, the contract Biden was claiming credit for was the one workers had rejected. Four unions had voted against the tentative agreement. If “no one else could negotiate” the contract, and the contract was rejected by the workers it was supposed to serve, the negotiation had failed on its own terms.

”The Only Thing Left Out Was Paid Leave”

Biden then made a damaging admission. “The only thing that was left out was whether or not it was paid leave,” Biden said.

This was the most important sentence in the exchange. Biden acknowledged that paid sick leave had been “left out” of the contract. He didn’t say the railroads refused to provide it. He didn’t say it was impossible to include. He said it was “left out” — a passive construction that avoided assigning responsibility for the omission.

The passive “left out” implied that paid leave had simply fallen through the cracks rather than being a deliberate choice. But labor negotiations don’t work that way. Every term in a tentative agreement is negotiated. Including or excluding paid sick leave was a conscious decision by the negotiating parties. Someone — either the administration, the railroad companies, or both — had decided that the deal would proceed without paid sick leave.

The reporter’s question had been: why didn’t you negotiate for paid sick leave? Biden’s answer was: it was “left out.” But being “left out” of negotiations the president personally led was precisely the failure the reporter was asking about.

”That Other Team, They Called the Republicans”

Biden then pivoted to blaming Republicans. “You know I’ve been trying to get paid leave, not just for rail workers, but for everybody. But that other team, they called the Republicans — they voted against it, they said we couldn’t do it,” Biden said.

The “that other team” framing — casually referring to Republicans during an international press conference — was unusually informal for a bilateral event. The phrasing was designed to elicit audience sympathy by positioning Republicans as obstructionists.

But the blame was misdirected. The reporter hadn’t asked why Congress hadn’t passed universal paid leave legislation. The reporter had asked why Biden hadn’t negotiated for paid sick leave in the specific railroad contract that was at issue. Congressional Republicans had nothing to do with the railroad contract negotiation — that was a bilateral negotiation between railroad companies and unions, with Biden administration involvement.

By pivoting from “why didn’t you negotiate it into the contract” to “Republicans blocked paid leave legislation,” Biden was answering a different question than the one asked.

”43, 45% Increase in Salary”

Biden then cited the contract’s economic benefits. “And by the way, in the meantime they got a 43, 45% increase in salary, et cetera. There’s a lot of good things that happen in that,” Biden said.

The inflation of the pay increase number was notable. The actual tentative agreement included a 24% pay increase over the life of the contract. Biden’s citation of “43, 45%” was significantly higher than the actual figure and appeared to be an exaggeration or confusion about the terms of the agreement he claimed to have personally negotiated.

”One to Five Paid, Seven or Nine, Whatever the Number Is”

Biden’s final sentence revealed unfamiliarity with the specific terms being debated. “And in fact this shuts down over the question of one to five paid, seven or nine, whatever the number is, and being negotiated, paid leave days, it’s going to be,” Biden said.

“One to five paid, seven or nine, whatever the number is” was a remarkable admission of ignorance about the central issue in the dispute. The number of paid sick days was the specific point of contention between the rejecting unions and the railroad companies. It was the issue that had caused four unions to reject the agreement Biden praised.

And Biden didn’t know the number. “Whatever the number is” suggested that the president who claimed to have personally negotiated the contract and who was asking Congress to impose it didn’t know the specific terms of the sick leave provision that was at the heart of the entire dispute.

Key Takeaways

• A reporter asked Biden directly why he didn’t negotiate for paid sick leave in the railroad contract he now wanted Congress to impose.
• Biden opened with “I love you guys” and claimed “I negotiated a contract no one else could negotiate” — then admitted paid leave was “left out.”
• He blamed “that other team, they called the Republicans” for blocking paid leave — but Republicans had nothing to do with the railroad contract negotiation.
• Biden inflated the pay increase from the actual 24% to “43, 45%” — either exaggerating or confused about his own contract.
• He admitted not knowing the specific number of sick days at issue: “one to five paid, seven or nine, whatever the number is.”

Transcript Highlights

The following is transcribed from the video audio (unverified — AI-generated from audio).

• Do the freight rail workers deserve more than one day of paid sick leave? Why didn’t you negotiate for that?
• I love you guys. I negotiated a contract no one else could negotiate.
• The only thing that was left out was whether or not it was paid leave.
• That other team, they called the Republicans, they voted against it, they said we couldn’t do it.
• In the meantime they got a 43, 45% increase in salary.
• This shuts down over the question of one to five paid, seven or nine, whatever the number is.

Full transcript: 193 words transcribed via Whisper AI.