# Biden helps avert railway strike **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 16, 2022, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674 "2022-09-16T14:23:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2022, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674/61 "2022-12-01T20:40:04Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > I’m willing to live without endless garbage tchotchkes making it to the local Walmart, I say let 'em strike and strike HARD. [Do _you_ need a train to get anywhere?](https://patch.com/california/banning-beaumont/amtrak-metrolink-commuters-brace-impact-freight-rail-strike) ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2022, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674/62 "2022-12-01T22:35:42Z")
You think the only thing railroads transport are tchotchkes? ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2022, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674/63 "2022-12-01T23:28:48Z")
Speaking as a denizen of east coast South Florida, if the freight lines suddenly stopped, there’s a very good chance that it would block east-west traffic at major intersections in a number of cities between West Palm Beach and Miami. And the commuter rail service that uses those same tracks would be SOL as well. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674/64 "2022-12-02T00:18:51Z")
Perhaps y’all are unfamiliar with the term “hyperbole,” I suggest you hit the Google to educate yourselves. I’m completely aware of how crucial the railroads are to the economy, I live in a city called “Portland,” which has, you guessed it, not only a sea port but also a major railroad hub. Trains go all day and night in and out through the Columbia Gorge AND, as a big old bonus, I have actually hung out at the Union Pacific yards climbing around on the engines. I know from trains and I also know from unions, and if you don’t remember how bad it was when Reagan fired PATCO then again, hit the Google. Yes, it will suck mightily for a while to have the railroads sidelined, it will be pretty awful, HOWEVER I submit it will be a lot worse in future for everyone if the railroad unions are gutted this way. Because, if you hadn’t noticed, there’s a strong upswell of support for unions and more and more mistreated workers are unionizing. I can’t see this railroad mess as being anything other than a calculated union busting move and I’m willing to live off my pantry for as long as it takes for those workers to get decent living conditions. Because as it stands, NONE OF THEM are guaranteed ANY days off EVER, let alone sick days. They’re on call 24/7/365 and if you think that’s a good idea, maybe YOU should try it at your work, see how you like it. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674/65 "2022-12-02T00:20:08Z")
So, Cruz and Sanders agree on something! ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674/66 "2022-12-02T01:16:43Z")
Cruz is just blowing smoke up our asses. There’s a few republicans who gave soundbites of how they support the RR employees in principle, but when it comes down to how they cast their votes you can bet they’ll cast their lots with the big money corporate interests. Theater. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674/67 "2022-12-02T14:05:17Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > I’m willing to live off my pantry for as long as it takes for those workers to get decent living conditions. How to you feel about [paying more for fuel,](https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/26/economy/railroad-strike-holidays-economic-impact/index.html) [including fuel oil to heat your home?](https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidblackmon/2022/11/22/looming-rail-strike-complicates-biden-options-to-avoid-a-winter-diesel-supply-crisis/?sh=731fef025703) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674/68 "2022-12-02T14:21:20Z")
[Natural gas won’t be safe from a price hike, either; nor will your electric bill.](https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/market-insights/latest-news/natural-gas/112122-us-nationwide-rail-strike-risk-escalates-as-largest-freight-rail-union-rejects-labor-contract) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674/69 "2022-12-02T16:46:53Z")
Well, if it’s going to cost me slightly more money, I guess the only option is to keep working these people like slaves. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674/70 "2022-12-02T18:23:28Z")
Sure, [let’s give the poor another winter of choosing between heat and food.](https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2021/10/27/inflation-energy-costs-force-heat-or-eat/8551676002/) There has to be a middle ground somewhere and the government is trying to find it. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674/71 "2022-12-02T18:29:05Z")
I eagerly await news that you’re taking the same working conditions as the imminently striking railroad workers. If they’re so valuable to the country and economy, maybe treat them like they’re essential. Or we can just repeat the COVID practice of “fuck them, I need cheap electricity”. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674/72 "2022-12-02T18:29:53Z")
If we hadn’t spent the last thirty years fucking over the working class, they wouldn’t have to choose between heat and food. Fucking them over again, like Biden just did here, isn’t going to fix that problem, it’s going to keep making it worse. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674/73 "2022-12-02T18:48:35Z")
If railroad companies hadn’t spent the past ~150 years more concerned about their bottom line than [their workers out in the field…](https://neversinkmuseum.org/articles/the-life-of-a-brakeman/) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674/74 "2022-12-02T18:53:55Z")
Sorry, I think I’ve lost your argument. Are you saying that, because the railroad companies have been fucking over their workers, it’s therefore justified for the Biden administration to also fuck over the railroad workers? ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674/75 "2022-12-02T18:54:15Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > If that senile SOB Can we not? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674/76 "2022-12-02T19:04:21Z")
50 years pales in comparison with railroad history, which – time and time again – has shown a strong hesitancy to change for the better unless [forced to do so by some disaster or another.](https://www.vice.com/en/article/3angy3/freight-rail-train-disaster-avoidable-boeing) There still has to be a middle ground somewhere without putting the country through such a mess. If a mess is unavoidable, so be it. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674/77 "2022-12-02T19:06:29Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Can we not? I’ll call it as I see it and if you don’t like it, tough shit. Cope. Seriously, the upper management of this country has the exact problem we see in this thread. It’s like a little kid freaking out over getting a shot that will prevent him from catching a disease that will kill him. There is a simple solution to this issue that nobody in Congress will dare to implement, and that’s to tell the fucking railroad companies they can either bite the bullet and give the workers what they need to survive or they can get nationalized until they learn how to get by without forced labor. There are many simple solutions to the issues plaguing this country and the problem with all of them is that it requires the wholly owned corporate subsidiary we call “Congress” to stand up to their bosses and say “Enough!” They know on which side their bread is buttered and it sure as fuck isn’t the measly little 176K+ we the people pay them to work 110 DAYS A YEAR FFS. Until we force them to do so, they will NEVER do a fucking thing to help the working class in this country, y’know, the people who are SO ESSENTIAL we need to make them into slaves in order to keep the country from collapsing. Until we withhold that labor and support our brothers and sisters in their strike actions we will continue to be squeezed and marginalized and fucking die to make sure the shareholders don’t have to forego their third yacht, heaven forfend. And yes, I personally am perfectly willing to stand by those workers and in fact I have taken steps that will allow me to function if they do decide to strike. Because I’m not a scared little kid and I understand that sometimes one needs to suck it the fuck up and take on some trouble and strife in order to make things better for everyone in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674/78 "2022-12-02T19:09:24Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > 50 years pales in comparison with railroad history, which – time and time again – has shown a strong hesitancy to change for the better unless [forced to do so by some disaster or another.](https://www.vice.com/en/article/3angy3/freight-rail-train-disaster-avoidable-boeing) Yeah, the railroad companies suck. Which is why its important that the government represent the needs and interests of the workers. Which is the opposite of what Biden’s doing here. > [@Skywatcher](#): > > There still has to be a middle ground somewhere without putting the country through such a mess. If a mess is unavoidable, so be it. This isn’t a middle ground. This is giving the railroads what they want, and shitting all over their workers. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674/79 "2022-12-02T19:16:49Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > I’ll call it as I see it and if you don’t like it, tough shit. Cope. Hey, just pointing out that it’s off topic and it’ll likely color the rest of your argument for a not insignificant number of people on this board. (I genuinely do not remember your general political stance, so I don’t know if this is a talking point you’d typically repeat.) As for the topic at hand, if one of the other posts above is true, then the issue is a pretty basic and old one: if a week of PTO is untenable for railroad schedules, that means that _more people have to be hired_, and the rail companies obviously don’t want to do that. Plus, it’d take time to train them, and what happens in the meantime? Then there’s the “just in time” supply chain questions brought up by the pandemic. At any rate, I’m willing to believe that the issue is a little wider than “just give PTO” (not that this affects the right thing to do; I’ve just seen it characterized as that simple elsewhere). Still, if there’s a time for plunging the country into a massive recession, just after an election might be the time to do it, politically speaking. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674/80 "2022-12-02T19:16:56Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > This isn’t a middle ground. This is giving the railroads what they want, and shitting all over their workers. [You need to talk to Manchin about the lack of sick days.](https://theintercept.com/2022/11/30/rail-workers-strike-house-bill/) I wonder if he realizes [how much of his state’s industry relies on rail transport.](https://www.wboy.com/news/west-virginia/threat-of-rail-strike-emphasizes-its-importance-to-west-virginia-coal-industry/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-helps-avert-railway-strike/971674.md?page=5)