BY JOSH BOAK AND ZEKE MILLER

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Thursday a tentative railway labor agreement has been reached, averting a potentially devastating strike before the pivotal midterm elections.

 

He said the tentative deal “will keep our critical rail system working and avoid disruption of our economy.”

 

The agreement is “an important win for our economy and the American people,” Biden said in a statement. “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 the rail workers will get better pay, improved working conditions and “peace of mind around their health care costs: all hard-earned.”

 

He called the agreement “a victory for railway companies” and said they would be able to “retain and recruit more workers for an industry that will continue to be part of the backbone of the American economy for decades to come.”

 

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden believes unions built the middle class. He also knows a rail worker strike could damage the economy ahead of midterm elections.