Wind energy production is projected to massively expand in the coming decades, and organized labor is maneuvering to take advantage of that development. The Biden administration revealed last year that it aspires to generate tens of thousands of U.S. jobs producing offshore wind power by 2030, and unions are agitating to insure that many of them flow to organized labor. Several private developers have already negotiated agreements to collaborate with organized labor on such projects, but union leaders and their congressional allies, seeking to entrench organized labor’s role in the burgeoning industry, have been beseeching the Interior Department to promulgate a requirement that any firms dealing with the federal government on wind energy facilities must adopt project labor agreements.

After three years of working without a contract, the possibility of a national rail employee strike will finally be unlocked next week. And yesterday, one of the their unions revealed that more than 99 percent of its members had voted to do so. As labor strife looms on the nation’s railways, then, President Biden finds himself facing a thorny situation, one subjecting him to countervailing political pressures. If he fails to intervene, a strike or lockout involving more than 100,000 workers may grind the nation’s freight rail system, as well as the commercial activity which relies on it, to a screeching halt. On one hand, the President surely wishes to forestall such a situation, which would threaten to cripple the nation’s economy, exacerbate existing supply chain shortages, and intensify inflationary pressures. On the other, however, the prospective strike affords Biden a golden opportunity to back the workers and demonstrate that his zeal for the labor movement transcends rhetorical flourish.

For the time being, it appears likely that Biden’s next move will be to appoint a “Presidential Emergency Board,” in accordance with the Railway Labor Act, which will be tasked with issuing recommendations designed to settle the dispute. Doing so would preclude a strike or lockout for sixty days. The White House has disclosed that Biden is currently considering the option.