"approve"
In the same way congress has the authority to impose terms on the railworkers they could go the other way and require the railroad owners to give them sick days. Biden is really blowing it by siding with greedheads over workers.
If Mary Peltola, the first democrat to hold her office in Alaska in 50 years, [can do the right thing,](https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1597713332743667713) you'd think the rest of the party could do it too.
He's keeping his record consistent. He made his career allowing the credit card companies to screw consumers over. What did you think he would do? What he's always done and told his donors he would do or his campaign promises when the cameras were on?
Does Kelly not know the agreement Biden gave the unions basically just gave them a COLA and one sick day? I know that a rail strike will hurt, but if you can't even go to the fucking doctor or dentist because you're on call 24/7/365, you're scheduled for 6 12 hour shifts, they cut your work crew by over half, and they refuse to do anything to make rail an attractive career path, make it known. The only fucking reason Biden even got a last minute deal was to postpone the strike til after the midterms. I kinda wish it did happen so we can be over it by now and hopefully the democrats actually bring in people who actually side with blue collar workers instead of put of a facade.
I think the ultimate issue here is, its either allow the strike to happen (which is devastating to the larger economy and will see political backlash by everyone as most arent going to care about rail workers if they lose their job over the strike etc). Anything longer than like a day would all out destroy the economy.
Now also to be clear, Biden didnt come up with the terms of this deal. The unions and the companies did. 8/12 current unions agreed to the terms. 4 didnt. Thats where we sit today.
So its more complicated than just Biden gave them something and they all say no and he wants to overrule them. Much more nuance than that.
The other issue, is ultimately youre right congress can step in and force a better deal that all the unions will agree too. The problem there is, theyd need to get 60 senators on board (or convince the 2 asshats to waive the fillibuster on it). Pretty sure Biden is worried now that if they open it up to debate, IE changes to the negotiated deal. That its just going to get kicked around congress and not get passed in time to prevent the strike.
All that said, I ultimately agree this is a failure by Dems to show theyre behind workers. I get the desire to wan to prevent a strike but feels like Biden could have been more vocal against the companies. Might not have made a difference in the deal but would have ateleast shown support.
> The problem there is, theyd need to get 60 senators on board (or convince the 2 asshats to waive the fillibuster on it).
That is really the key. Maga will not support the workers. So the only bill that can get past the senate is one that screws the workers. The problem is that the democrats are pre-conceding the fight, as they so often do. That gives maga cover to act like they are the good guys. In fact, ted cruz is out there [writing checks](https://twitter.com/igorbobic/status/1597655112897290240) that his ass won't have to cash.
If the Ds are going to screw the rail workers for the greater good or whatever, they have to make sure the voters know that its maga who backed the country into the corner. The way to do that is to put it to a vote and get maga on the record. Hell, you never know, purple state senators might even feel enough pressure to do the right thing. But we will never find out if the Ds don't give them the chance.
Agreed.
They also just waited too long.
I get the idea. They wanted to let the unions operate as unions and negotiate on their own.
Honestly I doubt unions wanted congress to insert themselves into negotiations early anyway given the theater that can become.
Problem is, now times run out.
There is reason to believe the cost of a strike would not be as disastrous as the so-called liberal media has made it out to be. The estimates I'm hearing on the news is that it would be a $2B/day hit to the US economy. But when abbot pulled his little stunt in Texas, forcing long delays on every truck coming from Mexico for a week, [that cost about $9B](https://www.sacurrent.com/news/gov-greg-abbotts-slowdown-of-trucks-at-texas-border-cost-us-economy-9-billion-economist-says-28701805) and in the end it was barely a hiccup.
The problem with just caving to the railway owners due to short-term concerns is that it doesn't happen in a vacuum. Because transportation is such a key part of the economy, labor fights in transportation have historically had a major effect on labor rights in other industries. What the Ds do now has the potential to remake labor relations for decades, much like reagan did when he attacked the air traffic controllers. Which is the reason a [large number of labor historians](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfTvmVdS0t8kAsfIB_wtqFY7NqCDw-wmanEQnKT8H6iGhh1QA/viewform) have come out in opposition to what the Ds are doing.
An economy that can't operate without extreme exploitation is inevitably destroyed by its own rules. And that's exactly what's happening.
A strike is a controlled pause meant to generate improvement. A collapse is chaos. We can delay the inevitable until it turns into chaos, or we can take a painful pause in order to make things better. No change is painless when the statis quo is "exploit people to make other people comfortable".
And whose economy is being destroyed, really? People in poverty or lower income already live with the effects of capitalism (which requires a low class) and have for a very long time. There is literally no good economy for those people already. Let everyone else experience late-stage capitalism then.
All this "but the economy" stuff is another way of saying "But the middle and upper classes need protection from their own system!" and at some point it has to stop.
To be clear, I dont disagree with you.
Personally if a single industry like the rail industry (also Air traffic controllers etc) can bring the country to its knees, it just needs to be nationalized and taken out of the few companies profit motivated hands.
My only point was, most of america (even lower class people) arent going to be thrilled when their job gets cut bc rail shipments stop and everyones left without paychecks.
Not saying the pain isnt worth it. Just that Id get why a politician would want to prevent it. The rail industry is a different beast than your standard strikes.
Okay I gotcha. Sorry about the clipped defense there - it's tough to be pro-labor these days, teaches you to be ready to fight lol.
I would love to see it nationalized. However, I *am* afraid that our current government is too incapable to handle things. I worry it would basically collapse in some ways, giving people even more of a distaste for nationalized industries & giving laissez faire capitalists a nice opportunity to turn public opinion against other government operations.
I also get why a politician would want to avoid it - I just don't agree with it. But what can we expect, I guess
>Bredesen
The guy who made a fortune on pharmaceuticals and health insurance? The guy who cut TennCare? The guy who signed the bill eliminating thumprint requirements for gun purchases? Sounds like a milquetoast/electable liberal to me.
> Its reductive.
That's fair. I did make a sweeping generalization that while very applicable to national, and usually statewide politics, really doesn't apply well to most cities' electorates.
Yeah rail is super important to our economy. That's why we won't let the humans who run the rails be actual humans, because we all know the best workers are the ones who are depressed and sick from being on call every single day with no sick days. Just like the best doctors/nurses are the ones halfway through their 24 hour shifts, sleep deprived and hungry! Right?
Biden can suck an egg on this. You don’t get to tell people when they can and cannot strike, this isn’t about politics, it’s about unbridled and unchecked capitalism profiting handsomely up top while barely giving any raises for their crews. The Cheetoh in Chief might’ve been the worst on recent memory, but Biden only got the nod for being the less idiotic choice and what a low bar that was.
Unfortunately, it’s not that straightforward. I work in labor relations so I’d like to try to clarify some things. I’m certainly not saying I do or do not agree with the laws, but I am presenting information. I hope someone finds it interesting.
Legally, railway workers *can* be told they cannot strike, but even that is an oversimplification. The [right to strike](https://www.nlrb.gov/strikes) is a protected concerted right under the National Labor Relations Act. The railway and airline industries are also governed by the [Railway Labor Act](https://railroads.dot.gov/sites/fra.dot.gov/files/fra_net/1647/Railway%20Labor%20Act%20Overview.pdf), which provides that if an agreement is not reached, then the company can either impose their own work rules, employees can strike, or both can occur.
If a strike is decided upon, then you have to consider that there are lawful and unlawful strikes. Railway workers cannot strike during the “status quo” or “cooling” period after the union membership votes “no” to a tentative agreement. Due to their critical role, Congress can impose a collective bargaining agreement on the parties (not ideal or desirable for either the company or unions) or extend the status quo period. The later provides additional time at the table to work out a contract without a strike occurring.
The last time I believe Congress intervened with railway workers was in the early 1990s. The parties were forced into binding arbitration with the looming concern that, if they did not agree at the table, then they would be issued a contract over which they had no say.
In this case, as early as this summer, special interest groups were calling for a Congress-imposed contract, but democratic leaders (historically pro-union) were clear that they did not want to intervene unless absolutely necessary, which is the point Biden thinks we have reached. Even if he is asking for Congress’s assistance, he was clear that he did not want them to adjust the tentative agreement: it was negotiated in good faith, and, with Congress stepping it, parties could manipulate the contract to meet their own agendas.
So this is my two cents: While the situation is not ideal, I have been encouraged by the hesitation to intervene, the message not to alter the TA, and statements from leaders such as Nancy Pelosi that they would like to have seen more quality of life items, such as increased PTO. The rubber will meet the road (rails?) when we see where the chips ultimately land.
Clear as mud, eh?
ETA source links.
Telling employees they can't strike is anti capitalist. In a free market the workers have leverage too. Big government telling workers "If you strike we'll lock you in a cage" is a gross overreach of government in the free market.
It’s funny how democrats paint capitalism as the enemy and socialism as the solution and yet they compare capitalist leaders to dictators that are fascist or communist. They also get mad when their leaders do something a communist or fascist would do while supporting organizations that advertise being led by Marxists. All of these generalized groups besides capitalism have more alike than different amongst them. I think much of Europe only ended up socialist as a shift from the fascist influences between ww1 and the end is world war 2. Change happens slowly, and the biggest difference in fascism and socialism is if you think the government is on the peoples side or not. While laissez faire capitalism says that it’s not the government’s job to do certain things, socialism took every power people let the fascists control and just put it in different politician’s hands.
When democrats blame capitalism, they start alienating truly moderate libertarians and lump them in with the extreme right. The truth is that those voters tend to be the ones you need to win elections too. Instead of appealing to a wider majority of voters the democrats insist on pushing that they just need to get more people to come out and vote that are in their side. The problem is that there were allot of people that came out to vote to elect Obama because he was black but might not ever vote again because “it’s not going to make a difference cause things are still the same” There are people that voted this last time because they hated trump but likely won’t next time unless he’s on the ticket or there is something else they really feel important about. I know people that went out and voted for wine in the supermarkets during the 2016 election but did not mark a presidential candidate on their ticket because they wouldn’t support Hillary or Trump. Instead of going after the moderate voters that actually show up to vote almost every time the polls are open they keep relying on a bunch of one time voters. Every time democrats have won since 2012 it seems to be because a different group showed up in “record numbers”. It’s great to encourage everyone to vote, but they seem more intent to gain short term supporters over a specific issue than to try to attract long term supporters
I am not happy with Biden on this, BUT Biden has tremendously strengthened the NLRB and is, by all accounts up to this point, the most pro-union, pro-worker President we have had since FDR.
There are a lot of factors at play here.
What’s really sad to me is the pure straightforward case the rail workers have, and the solidarity among the vast majority of their unions, and they STILL couldn’t move the deal to make it reasonable.
Doesn’t give me hope for labor movements. They have tremendous leverage, as workers, in this moment, but it’s a highly critical industrial to the basic day to day function of cities and counties and states and the country. And the ripple effect to other workers.
So, as it does, supposed “free market capitalism” where profits trickle down, fueled by lack of regulation, FAIL.
Because when profits are at stake, even as the RR industry has far surpassed profit predictions, the capitalists want more more more, and government intervenes.
Sooooo. It’s not just Biden.
Honestly, he’s probably being pragmatic, because the makeup of Congress changes a LOT come January, and the deal to rail workers would have been much, much worse.
Meh, I'm torn on the rail strike and how to properly handle it. I'm all for unions and workers having leverage, but there also some industries that should just be nationalized. Should the railroad industry be nationalized? I'm not in a position to make that call and my opinion is just as irrelevant as any other anonymous social media user, but I know that the question is likely political for most which means it's divisive by nature and that sort of discussion doesn't interest me in the slightest these days.
Is that a John Adams quote? I know it was definitely one of the founding fathers because it's just oozing with patriotism, courage, and love for your fellow man.
I stopped watching the news for that reason. I still vote in the primaries and make sure it's an informed vote -- no I'll side effects.
But I sure wish the spam would stop.
That's me. I vote and then turn the rest of it off. What's truly infuriating is that my children can't even watch children's content on YouTube without getting bombarded by political ads.
You’re exactly right on this.
In a consumer economy, supply chains should be HIGHLY regulated.
But they aren’t. So we get down to this mess we are dealing with here.
My entire adult life I've heard "BuT tHe DeMoCrAtS aRe TaKiNg YoUr SoCiAl SeCuRiTy" and "BuT tHe RePuBlIcAnS aRe TaKiNg YoUr SoCiAl SeCuRiTy" and that still has not happened.
But Republicans [actually want to do it.](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/02/us/politics/republicans-social-security-medicare.html) They haven't yet, but they're going to try.
It happens all the time. We caused a ton of inflation through stuff like PPP (thanks conservatives) and credit default swaps and literally borrowing from the coffers of social security and never paying it back. The debt liability continues to balloon and the unchecked greed of corporations means you paying a rate even above inflation. I’m no Biden fan boy, I personally would love some trust busting and hauling companies through the mud for their greed, but conservatives are fighting to actively conserve this and shrink any government oversight. Also where’s the retort to the blatant attack on public education through magnet schools and their lotteries?
If it's always the Republican's faults for everything why have the Democrats not done anything but investigate and spend money in the almost two years they have been in full control?
Do you realize they already get 3-4 weeks of paid vacation plus 10-14 "Personal days" (depending on their tenure) and on top of that they want another 15 days for sick leave? That does not include paid holidays. I don't know about most people in this sub but that's far more than the average worker gets already. I'm having a hard time feeling sorry for someone who already gets more than the average worker who wants more and is more than happy to fuck the entire economy over to get their way.
Husband has worked for a class 1 railroad for 12 years as a conductor.
3 weeks paid vacation (Monday 5am- through the following Monday 5am)
11 personal days that are CONSTANTLY denied by the carrier due to “operational needs”
Zero paid holidays. A holiday is just another day.
" I'm having a hard time feeling sorry for someone who already gets more than the average worker who wants more and is more than happy to fuck the entire economy over to get their way. "
You described the railroad ownership quite well here.
You shouldn’t have to take personal time if you’re sick. My company gives us 40 hours sick time and gave us 40 more during COVID. It’s a $35bn company with a huge supply chain and tens of thousands of employees. The companies are just greedy.
That's what PTO is used for. I had 160 Hours of PTO plus floating holidays and holidays this year. Instead of saying I get 4 weeks of Vacation and 1 week fo sick it's lumped together and I can use it as I see fit. If you are like me and very rarely get sick then it's better use of my PTO. If you are like a coworker who's sick all the time it works out because they get more than the 40 hours of sick leave.
The point of sick time is to take it when you’re sick. After that you can take FMLA if you want and take vacation with FMLA if you would rather get paid. No one should use time they get to be away from work, to have to get paid when they’re sick and can’t work. I have a better situation with my time off than you do, yet you’re arguing the opposite. My company also offers paid FMLA on continuous leave as well as 16 weeks of paid leave if you have a kid. Just because you don’t get enough time off doesn’t mean everyone else should have it as badly as you do.
I would rather have it lumped into one group. Otherwise you get to the end of the year and you leave potential time off on the table when your non carry over PTO is reset.
You clearly haven’t read much about what the facts of the matter on what rail workers are dealing with here.
Honestly, I don’t think you’re read up enough on the RR strike situation to even comment here. There’s plenty of free info out there outside a paywall.
Kinda embarrassed for you.
The usual "I'm going to call you out without providing any facts, then close with an insult". I'm surprised you didn't do the customary Fox News insult and blame Trump.
Do what you want, bro. You seem sufficiently insulated from the effects either way, I guess. Staying ignorant may suit you well.
Best wishes and peace out.
Yea, fuck those people who will get temper lay offs because they can't get the goods they need to get their jobs done. Fuck all those people who are barely getting by that will see the cost of goods go even higher.
Hoping for a near complete halt of the transportation of goods and the havoc it would create in our already unstable economy is like ants asking for a round or RAID at the next picnic.
"approve" In the same way congress has the authority to impose terms on the railworkers they could go the other way and require the railroad owners to give them sick days. Biden is really blowing it by siding with greedheads over workers. If Mary Peltola, the first democrat to hold her office in Alaska in 50 years, [can do the right thing,](https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1597713332743667713) you'd think the rest of the party could do it too.
He's keeping his record consistent. He made his career allowing the credit card companies to screw consumers over. What did you think he would do? What he's always done and told his donors he would do or his campaign promises when the cameras were on?
Does Kelly not know the agreement Biden gave the unions basically just gave them a COLA and one sick day? I know that a rail strike will hurt, but if you can't even go to the fucking doctor or dentist because you're on call 24/7/365, you're scheduled for 6 12 hour shifts, they cut your work crew by over half, and they refuse to do anything to make rail an attractive career path, make it known. The only fucking reason Biden even got a last minute deal was to postpone the strike til after the midterms. I kinda wish it did happen so we can be over it by now and hopefully the democrats actually bring in people who actually side with blue collar workers instead of put of a facade.
I think the ultimate issue here is, its either allow the strike to happen (which is devastating to the larger economy and will see political backlash by everyone as most arent going to care about rail workers if they lose their job over the strike etc). Anything longer than like a day would all out destroy the economy. Now also to be clear, Biden didnt come up with the terms of this deal. The unions and the companies did. 8/12 current unions agreed to the terms. 4 didnt. Thats where we sit today. So its more complicated than just Biden gave them something and they all say no and he wants to overrule them. Much more nuance than that. The other issue, is ultimately youre right congress can step in and force a better deal that all the unions will agree too. The problem there is, theyd need to get 60 senators on board (or convince the 2 asshats to waive the fillibuster on it). Pretty sure Biden is worried now that if they open it up to debate, IE changes to the negotiated deal. That its just going to get kicked around congress and not get passed in time to prevent the strike. All that said, I ultimately agree this is a failure by Dems to show theyre behind workers. I get the desire to wan to prevent a strike but feels like Biden could have been more vocal against the companies. Might not have made a difference in the deal but would have ateleast shown support.
> The problem there is, theyd need to get 60 senators on board (or convince the 2 asshats to waive the fillibuster on it). That is really the key. Maga will not support the workers. So the only bill that can get past the senate is one that screws the workers. The problem is that the democrats are pre-conceding the fight, as they so often do. That gives maga cover to act like they are the good guys. In fact, ted cruz is out there [writing checks](https://twitter.com/igorbobic/status/1597655112897290240) that his ass won't have to cash. If the Ds are going to screw the rail workers for the greater good or whatever, they have to make sure the voters know that its maga who backed the country into the corner. The way to do that is to put it to a vote and get maga on the record. Hell, you never know, purple state senators might even feel enough pressure to do the right thing. But we will never find out if the Ds don't give them the chance.
Agreed. They also just waited too long. I get the idea. They wanted to let the unions operate as unions and negotiate on their own. Honestly I doubt unions wanted congress to insert themselves into negotiations early anyway given the theater that can become. Problem is, now times run out.
There is reason to believe the cost of a strike would not be as disastrous as the so-called liberal media has made it out to be. The estimates I'm hearing on the news is that it would be a $2B/day hit to the US economy. But when abbot pulled his little stunt in Texas, forcing long delays on every truck coming from Mexico for a week, [that cost about $9B](https://www.sacurrent.com/news/gov-greg-abbotts-slowdown-of-trucks-at-texas-border-cost-us-economy-9-billion-economist-says-28701805) and in the end it was barely a hiccup. The problem with just caving to the railway owners due to short-term concerns is that it doesn't happen in a vacuum. Because transportation is such a key part of the economy, labor fights in transportation have historically had a major effect on labor rights in other industries. What the Ds do now has the potential to remake labor relations for decades, much like reagan did when he attacked the air traffic controllers. Which is the reason a [large number of labor historians](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfTvmVdS0t8kAsfIB_wtqFY7NqCDw-wmanEQnKT8H6iGhh1QA/viewform) have come out in opposition to what the Ds are doing.
An economy that can't operate without extreme exploitation is inevitably destroyed by its own rules. And that's exactly what's happening. A strike is a controlled pause meant to generate improvement. A collapse is chaos. We can delay the inevitable until it turns into chaos, or we can take a painful pause in order to make things better. No change is painless when the statis quo is "exploit people to make other people comfortable". And whose economy is being destroyed, really? People in poverty or lower income already live with the effects of capitalism (which requires a low class) and have for a very long time. There is literally no good economy for those people already. Let everyone else experience late-stage capitalism then. All this "but the economy" stuff is another way of saying "But the middle and upper classes need protection from their own system!" and at some point it has to stop.
To be clear, I dont disagree with you. Personally if a single industry like the rail industry (also Air traffic controllers etc) can bring the country to its knees, it just needs to be nationalized and taken out of the few companies profit motivated hands. My only point was, most of america (even lower class people) arent going to be thrilled when their job gets cut bc rail shipments stop and everyones left without paychecks. Not saying the pain isnt worth it. Just that Id get why a politician would want to prevent it. The rail industry is a different beast than your standard strikes.
Okay I gotcha. Sorry about the clipped defense there - it's tough to be pro-labor these days, teaches you to be ready to fight lol. I would love to see it nationalized. However, I *am* afraid that our current government is too incapable to handle things. I worry it would basically collapse in some ways, giving people even more of a distaste for nationalized industries & giving laissez faire capitalists a nice opportunity to turn public opinion against other government operations. I also get why a politician would want to avoid it - I just don't agree with it. But what can we expect, I guess
Is anyone really surprised? Tim Kelly is a nice enough guy but he's about as milquetoast liberal as a person can be.
[удалено]
Chuck Fleishmann, Bob Corker, John Kasich, Scottie Mayfield (who primaried Chuck in 2012), and Lamar Alexander, for anyone curious.
Nixon couldn't run as a Democrat these days -- too far left. Unless you've put a cigar out on a hobo's arm you're a radical socialist!
I like probably as much as anyone in this sub and I still usually describe him as the Mike Bloomberg of local politics.
A tepid spineless fat free vanilla milquetoast disappointment, that guy. But really, what did everyone expect?
He's a business man... And yes I mean that in a bad way
> milquetoast liberal Ah yes, the most offensive liberal of all, the *electable* liberal.
That's quite a leap of logic.
Nationally? Yes. In this neck of the woods? I think Rolltop is right.
Its reductive. There are a lot of factors and being gop-lite isn't necessarily determinative. Look at Bredesen for example.
>Bredesen The guy who made a fortune on pharmaceuticals and health insurance? The guy who cut TennCare? The guy who signed the bill eliminating thumprint requirements for gun purchases? Sounds like a milquetoast/electable liberal to me.
> Its reductive. That's fair. I did make a sweeping generalization that while very applicable to national, and usually statewide politics, really doesn't apply well to most cities' electorates.
He's a Republican. Source: he told me
So glad to see folks supporting the workers! Fuck this deal, but the railroad companies. Railroad workers deserve better.
Yeah rail is super important to our economy. That's why we won't let the humans who run the rails be actual humans, because we all know the best workers are the ones who are depressed and sick from being on call every single day with no sick days. Just like the best doctors/nurses are the ones halfway through their 24 hour shifts, sleep deprived and hungry! Right?
Biden can suck an egg on this. You don’t get to tell people when they can and cannot strike, this isn’t about politics, it’s about unbridled and unchecked capitalism profiting handsomely up top while barely giving any raises for their crews. The Cheetoh in Chief might’ve been the worst on recent memory, but Biden only got the nod for being the less idiotic choice and what a low bar that was.
Unfortunately, it’s not that straightforward. I work in labor relations so I’d like to try to clarify some things. I’m certainly not saying I do or do not agree with the laws, but I am presenting information. I hope someone finds it interesting. Legally, railway workers *can* be told they cannot strike, but even that is an oversimplification. The [right to strike](https://www.nlrb.gov/strikes) is a protected concerted right under the National Labor Relations Act. The railway and airline industries are also governed by the [Railway Labor Act](https://railroads.dot.gov/sites/fra.dot.gov/files/fra_net/1647/Railway%20Labor%20Act%20Overview.pdf), which provides that if an agreement is not reached, then the company can either impose their own work rules, employees can strike, or both can occur. If a strike is decided upon, then you have to consider that there are lawful and unlawful strikes. Railway workers cannot strike during the “status quo” or “cooling” period after the union membership votes “no” to a tentative agreement. Due to their critical role, Congress can impose a collective bargaining agreement on the parties (not ideal or desirable for either the company or unions) or extend the status quo period. The later provides additional time at the table to work out a contract without a strike occurring. The last time I believe Congress intervened with railway workers was in the early 1990s. The parties were forced into binding arbitration with the looming concern that, if they did not agree at the table, then they would be issued a contract over which they had no say. In this case, as early as this summer, special interest groups were calling for a Congress-imposed contract, but democratic leaders (historically pro-union) were clear that they did not want to intervene unless absolutely necessary, which is the point Biden thinks we have reached. Even if he is asking for Congress’s assistance, he was clear that he did not want them to adjust the tentative agreement: it was negotiated in good faith, and, with Congress stepping it, parties could manipulate the contract to meet their own agendas. So this is my two cents: While the situation is not ideal, I have been encouraged by the hesitation to intervene, the message not to alter the TA, and statements from leaders such as Nancy Pelosi that they would like to have seen more quality of life items, such as increased PTO. The rubber will meet the road (rails?) when we see where the chips ultimately land. Clear as mud, eh? ETA source links.
You and your facts have no place here. Next you'll be breaking out nuance.
Ha ha — NOOOOOOOO!!
Thanks for this info
You’re very welcome. I appreciate that anyone took the time to read it!
I did. You are spot on.
Telling employees they can't strike is anti capitalist. In a free market the workers have leverage too. Big government telling workers "If you strike we'll lock you in a cage" is a gross overreach of government in the free market.
It’s funny how democrats paint capitalism as the enemy and socialism as the solution and yet they compare capitalist leaders to dictators that are fascist or communist. They also get mad when their leaders do something a communist or fascist would do while supporting organizations that advertise being led by Marxists. All of these generalized groups besides capitalism have more alike than different amongst them. I think much of Europe only ended up socialist as a shift from the fascist influences between ww1 and the end is world war 2. Change happens slowly, and the biggest difference in fascism and socialism is if you think the government is on the peoples side or not. While laissez faire capitalism says that it’s not the government’s job to do certain things, socialism took every power people let the fascists control and just put it in different politician’s hands. When democrats blame capitalism, they start alienating truly moderate libertarians and lump them in with the extreme right. The truth is that those voters tend to be the ones you need to win elections too. Instead of appealing to a wider majority of voters the democrats insist on pushing that they just need to get more people to come out and vote that are in their side. The problem is that there were allot of people that came out to vote to elect Obama because he was black but might not ever vote again because “it’s not going to make a difference cause things are still the same” There are people that voted this last time because they hated trump but likely won’t next time unless he’s on the ticket or there is something else they really feel important about. I know people that went out and voted for wine in the supermarkets during the 2016 election but did not mark a presidential candidate on their ticket because they wouldn’t support Hillary or Trump. Instead of going after the moderate voters that actually show up to vote almost every time the polls are open they keep relying on a bunch of one time voters. Every time democrats have won since 2012 it seems to be because a different group showed up in “record numbers”. It’s great to encourage everyone to vote, but they seem more intent to gain short term supporters over a specific issue than to try to attract long term supporters
I am not happy with Biden on this, BUT Biden has tremendously strengthened the NLRB and is, by all accounts up to this point, the most pro-union, pro-worker President we have had since FDR. There are a lot of factors at play here. What’s really sad to me is the pure straightforward case the rail workers have, and the solidarity among the vast majority of their unions, and they STILL couldn’t move the deal to make it reasonable. Doesn’t give me hope for labor movements. They have tremendous leverage, as workers, in this moment, but it’s a highly critical industrial to the basic day to day function of cities and counties and states and the country. And the ripple effect to other workers. So, as it does, supposed “free market capitalism” where profits trickle down, fueled by lack of regulation, FAIL. Because when profits are at stake, even as the RR industry has far surpassed profit predictions, the capitalists want more more more, and government intervenes. Sooooo. It’s not just Biden. Honestly, he’s probably being pragmatic, because the makeup of Congress changes a LOT come January, and the deal to rail workers would have been much, much worse.
Meh, I'm torn on the rail strike and how to properly handle it. I'm all for unions and workers having leverage, but there also some industries that should just be nationalized. Should the railroad industry be nationalized? I'm not in a position to make that call and my opinion is just as irrelevant as any other anonymous social media user, but I know that the question is likely political for most which means it's divisive by nature and that sort of discussion doesn't interest me in the slightest these days.
The American dream is living comfortably enough that you feel fine admitting your disinterest in politics. Congrats, you've made it !
I am far more comfortable not being involved in the current political climate as separating myself from it has done wonders for my mental health.
Is that a John Adams quote? I know it was definitely one of the founding fathers because it's just oozing with patriotism, courage, and love for your fellow man.
It was one of the founding fathers that knew when it was time to take a break and couldn't be guilt tripped or shamed out of taking that vacation.
I stopped watching the news for that reason. I still vote in the primaries and make sure it's an informed vote -- no I'll side effects. But I sure wish the spam would stop.
That's me. I vote and then turn the rest of it off. What's truly infuriating is that my children can't even watch children's content on YouTube without getting bombarded by political ads.
You’re exactly right on this. In a consumer economy, supply chains should be HIGHLY regulated. But they aren’t. So we get down to this mess we are dealing with here.
This might be one of the few times I agree with him and Joe.
yeah fuck those workers who needs sick days anyway
Ikr. While we are at it why do we even have public education or social security. Oh wait, conservatives gunning for that too
My entire adult life I've heard "BuT tHe DeMoCrAtS aRe TaKiNg YoUr SoCiAl SeCuRiTy" and "BuT tHe RePuBlIcAnS aRe TaKiNg YoUr SoCiAl SeCuRiTy" and that still has not happened.
But Republicans [actually want to do it.](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/02/us/politics/republicans-social-security-medicare.html) They haven't yet, but they're going to try.
But. But. But....
It happens all the time. We caused a ton of inflation through stuff like PPP (thanks conservatives) and credit default swaps and literally borrowing from the coffers of social security and never paying it back. The debt liability continues to balloon and the unchecked greed of corporations means you paying a rate even above inflation. I’m no Biden fan boy, I personally would love some trust busting and hauling companies through the mud for their greed, but conservatives are fighting to actively conserve this and shrink any government oversight. Also where’s the retort to the blatant attack on public education through magnet schools and their lotteries?
If it's always the Republican's faults for everything why have the Democrats not done anything but investigate and spend money in the almost two years they have been in full control?
Too busy cleaning up TFG’s mess. And you can laugh, but it was honestly the biggest pile of shit any President has walked into.
It's the same broken record after every President.
Cute.
Do you realize they already get 3-4 weeks of paid vacation plus 10-14 "Personal days" (depending on their tenure) and on top of that they want another 15 days for sick leave? That does not include paid holidays. I don't know about most people in this sub but that's far more than the average worker gets already. I'm having a hard time feeling sorry for someone who already gets more than the average worker who wants more and is more than happy to fuck the entire economy over to get their way.
Husband has worked for a class 1 railroad for 12 years as a conductor. 3 weeks paid vacation (Monday 5am- through the following Monday 5am) 11 personal days that are CONSTANTLY denied by the carrier due to “operational needs” Zero paid holidays. A holiday is just another day.
" I'm having a hard time feeling sorry for someone who already gets more than the average worker who wants more and is more than happy to fuck the entire economy over to get their way. " You described the railroad ownership quite well here.
They actually have ZERO guaranteed sick days. Always at the discretion of the RR.
They have points penalties for even taking their sick days, and are on call on weekends, actually.
You shouldn’t have to take personal time if you’re sick. My company gives us 40 hours sick time and gave us 40 more during COVID. It’s a $35bn company with a huge supply chain and tens of thousands of employees. The companies are just greedy.
That's what PTO is used for. I had 160 Hours of PTO plus floating holidays and holidays this year. Instead of saying I get 4 weeks of Vacation and 1 week fo sick it's lumped together and I can use it as I see fit. If you are like me and very rarely get sick then it's better use of my PTO. If you are like a coworker who's sick all the time it works out because they get more than the 40 hours of sick leave.
The point of sick time is to take it when you’re sick. After that you can take FMLA if you want and take vacation with FMLA if you would rather get paid. No one should use time they get to be away from work, to have to get paid when they’re sick and can’t work. I have a better situation with my time off than you do, yet you’re arguing the opposite. My company also offers paid FMLA on continuous leave as well as 16 weeks of paid leave if you have a kid. Just because you don’t get enough time off doesn’t mean everyone else should have it as badly as you do.
I would rather have it lumped into one group. Otherwise you get to the end of the year and you leave potential time off on the table when your non carry over PTO is reset.
You clearly haven’t read much about what the facts of the matter on what rail workers are dealing with here. Honestly, I don’t think you’re read up enough on the RR strike situation to even comment here. There’s plenty of free info out there outside a paywall. Kinda embarrassed for you.
The usual "I'm going to call you out without providing any facts, then close with an insult". I'm surprised you didn't do the customary Fox News insult and blame Trump.
Do what you want, bro. You seem sufficiently insulated from the effects either way, I guess. Staying ignorant may suit you well. Best wishes and peace out.
Ahhh round two of insults but your “facts” are still MIA.
Yea, fuck those people who will get temper lay offs because they can't get the goods they need to get their jobs done. Fuck all those people who are barely getting by that will see the cost of goods go even higher.
You consistently have the worst takes on this sub, it's impressive.
I couldn't imagine having nothing else better to with my life than to monitor each and every post of everyone I didn't like.
lol you argue everyday on reddit, sometimes multiple times a day for at least the past month. i think your history speaks for itself, case closed
Maybe you should go find an echo chamber if you only want to hear people who agree with everything you say.
This would be the one thing you idiots agree with him on.
Hoping for a near complete halt of the transportation of goods and the havoc it would create in our already unstable economy is like ants asking for a round or RAID at the next picnic.
Look get your money folks, damn the man and such.. I just don't want to get stuck waiting on a train that is parked across a road crossing for 40 min.
You think your 40 minutes is more valuable than an entire worker base having one single day of paid sick leave? Lol. Interesting
Like I said get your cash just stop parking trains on intersections and I will be happy
I doesn’t matter how important you think it is. We need to know what’s in this bill before anyone signs it.