WASHINGTON, Sept 25 (Reuters) - The Biden administration

on Wednesday called on three major freight railroads to

guarantee paid sick leave for all workers, saying 10,000

employees do not have the benefit.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Acting Labor

Secretary Julie Su wrote to the CEOs of CSX, Canadian

National Railway ( CNI ) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City ( CP )

urging them to extend coverage.

They noted that since the end of 2022, the percentage of

U.S. rail workers who are guaranteed paid sick leave has risen

from 5% to 90%.

"Sick leave for workers is not a luxury - it's a necessity,"

said Su.

In 2022, railroads came under fire for not agreeing to paid

sick leave during labor negotiations.

In December 2022,

President Joe Biden signed legislation

to block a national U.S. railroad strike that could have

devastated the American economy after some unions voted against

the deal over a lack of paid sick leave.

After that, railroads began agreeing in talks with

unions to extend paid sick leave. By June 2023,

60% of rail workers had paid sick leave

, a rail trade group said.

CSX CEO Joe Hinrichs said in a letter to the officials

that two unions have not agreed to the same basic paid sick

leave agreements that all other unions have agreed.

"We have offered the same constructive paid sick leave

agreements to these unions on multiple occasions," Hinrichs

said. "We were the first and only railroad to work with the

unions to breakthrough on these paid sick leave agreements."

CPKC, which does not negotiate with other railroads

jointly on nearly all issues, said it remains committed to and

continues to negotiate the issue of sick leave with its U.S.

unions and noted it has 65 separate collective bargaining

agreements.

"We have sent formal sick leave offers to multiple

unions," the carrier said.

CN did not immediately comment.