Those railroad workers have been operating for almost THREE YEARS without a contract–that is absolutely unacceptable. They’ve been coping with pandemic issues and supply chain problems for over two years without any sort of recognition of the incredibly difficult job they do. This is not okay and Congress is using its political might to tighten the screws on these workers even harder.
Yes, a strike hurts, that’s the ENTIRE POINT. It does no good to politely stand there with a hand out saying “Please, sir, may I have some more?” because that just gets the whips and boots out. These workers have been asking nicely for three years for some fucking time off to see their families and to cope with getting sick in the middle of a global fucking pandemic and have been ignored and fobbed off with nothing. If they’re tired and fed up enough to strike I will get out there and support them with every fiber of my being. Union strong, y’all.
Walsh and Buttigieg emphasized that the fight over sick leave doesn’t end with passing the rail agreement, according to attendees. But future sick leave changes for freight rail workers will need to be addressed by Congress at a later date, or in the next round of contract negotiations.
“We’ll do something about it! Some day! Not now, of course, but, you know… soon.”
Why are you buying this obvious bullshit? They could have stood up to the railroad companies now, but didn’t. Why do you think that’s going to change at some undefined future?
I work under the umbrella of the Department of Commerce. It’s in my best interest to believe any Democrat – other than Manchin – until the evidence shows otherwise. The fact that six Republicans wanted the sick leave included suggests that my trust is not misplaced.
It’s not like we have the GOP and their perpetual “two weeks” here.
I don’t think the biden admin is deliberately 100% lying but if a democratic congress couldn’t deliver during an actual crisis when some kind of decision was forced there’s basically no hope in a split congress under no immediate pressure and by 2 years from now this issue will have been forgotten.
OMG, right? “Jam yesterday and jam tomorrow but never jam today.” What in the fuck do we pay these mooks in Congress for, anyway, if not to fix shit that isn’t working? Anyone who buys that bullshit is part of the problem FFS.
It Is Difficult to Get a Man to Understand Something When His Salary Depends Upon His Not Understanding It – Upton Sinclair
You must have quite the taste for boot polish by now–when abusive behavior is normalized people get to thinking a punch is the same as a kiss.
This is the reality of “the land of the free, the home of the brave.”
It isn’t really free. And the people aren’t really brave.
“the U.S. is the only developed country that does not guarantee paid sick leave in any capacity.”
“The U.S. is one of the only developed nations that does not require employers to provide any paid leave to new parents.”
" In the U.S., when it comes to vacation days, employers and employees lay out those terms in their individual contracts. After the first year of working at any given company, workers typically get an average of 10 paid vacation days."
I don’t think many realise just how far behind the rest of the world the United States is here. You have “at will” employment and most of you think that’s just fine. Healthcare is essentially tied to your job. Wait staff have to make up their wages in tips.
This is dystopian. And the reality is that nobody with any power has the slightest interest in changing things for the better.
This isn’t just about the railway workers. What about everyone else?
It’s over. It’s always been over. The state has been effectively brutal here in both execution and propaganda. The robber barrons have won. As they always do. And most Americans are just fine with that.
Biden sided with the big corporations over the working man, and it won’t be forgotten. He could have posed a deal more favorable to the workers, this dispute was not about money.
My railroad didn’t have an official covid policy until a year into the pandemic. If you got sick, you got penalized with points, even with a doctor’s note.
So I was out here, staying in dirty hotels, sharing cab rides and engine cabs with other employees. No way to stay home like everyone else did.
Road conductors and engineers don’t work shifts like everyone try to make it seem. You can come off your 10 hours rest and be first out for call, and then sit there for hours before you actually get called to work. Then you go to work, and you don’t know when you will get done, but you know it will be at least 12 hours.
When you get back home from this you can be right back out on rest even though you may have been gone 48 hours or more.
I’ve been a rail for 20 years used to be able to mark off if you need to, without pay, for any reason.
Class One railroads have cut 30,000 jobs over the past 6 years, while claiming record profit. Alot of those jobs were our buffer that enabled us to mark off when we need too.
Well, not to let facts get in the way of a good “Let’s Go Brandon” story, but unless I’m very much mistaken, and I cannot be arsed right now to “do my own research”, there were two bills to avert the railway strike put before Congress, and the second one offered the railway workers sick time, and it was rejected by well over 90% of Republican congressmen. It wouldn’t get through the Senate filibuster. So what the hell do you expect Biden to do? Republicans care more about hurting Biden than helping the American people. And they were the same way with Obama.
Now, now, this isn’t the time to remind folks that what can be accomplished is what can be accomplished.
Far better to blame Biden and the Democrats for not doing what they simply can’t do and ignoring what the Republicans would do if they could.
Okay, then as someone who voted for Obama twice, I’ll freely say it: Shame on Obama for that. That’s wrong. But Biden is in office now and has a chance to correct that injustice.
…the only reason why there was a second bill was because of the progressive pushback on the position taken by the President, and it was designed in a way so that people who “hadn’t done their own research” would put all the blame for that cynical move on the 90% of Republicans who inevitably voted against it.
It was a purely political move. Not one in support of the unions or sick pay.
That’s the thing. He didn’t have to do anything.
The Republicans are not the good guys.
But what happened here is entirely on the Democrats.
@Banquet_Bear If you’re saying you’d rather have Elizabeth Warren or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as president because they would have handled this better, guess what? I agree with you!
But the railway must not be allowed to strike. It would destroy our economy. It was Republicans who voted against the sick leave, not Democrats. And they did that out of the craven need to harm President Biden’s chances for re-election.
It’s not about a partisan anti-Biden issue, despite what some posters have implied in the name of brushing aside the injustice done to those employees.
“But the railway must not be allowed to strike”
And in so preventing this, the only option was to side with the employers? That’s no compromise, much less middle ground.
If the railway must not be allowed to strike, then surely the railway workers must also not be allowed to retire or quit, since that would be the same result.
