Congress expected to impose contract on US railroad workers to avert strike

Citing catastrophic' risk to US economy, Nancy Pelosi announces impending vote to bind unions to September negotiations

The US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has announced that her fellow members of Congress plan to vote this week on imposing a new contract for railroad workers to avert a looming labor strike.

Pelosi made the announcement late on Monday afternoon just after Joe Biden called on Congress to intervene to prevent a strike, a possibility if an agreement between the freight rail industry and unions is not made by 9 December.