After nearly three years of working without a contract, the nation’s rail employees will be statutorily unleashed to strike next week — and of the leading rail unions announced yesterday that its members have overwhelmingly voted to do so.

The looming labor strife exposes President Biden to dueling political headwinds. While a sweeping strike involving tens of thousands of railway workers would disrupt the national economy, exacerbate supply chain shortages, and accelerate inflation, it would also offer him an all but irresistible opportunity to concretely demonstrate that his support for working people transcends rhetorical flourish.

In the interim, as he weighs the competing political imperatives, Biden is likely to appoint an emergency board to make recommendations for settlement of the dispute, as the Railway Labor Act empowers him to do. The move would forestall a strike for at least an additional 60 days.

Accordingly to a recent Bloomberg Law piece, wind energy production is projected to massively expand in the coming decades, and unions are maneuvering to take advantage of the industry’s growth. While several private developers have already agreed to partner with unions, labor leaders have been urging the Biden administration to promulgate a rule mandating project labor agreements on any federally funded wind infrastructure project.