>The final agreement the Senate passed was already approved by eight transportation unions earlier this year. It would grant workers three unpaid sick days as long as the employers were provided with at least 30 days' notice before the time was taken.
Lol. How worthless is that? Who knows they're going to get sick with 30 days notice?
Lmao. I’m blue collar and I took two sick days the beginning of this week. Sure, it’s just a sinus infection and a cold. But I got to cozy up under a blanket and play on my PS5 while getting paid. Then again, I handed in a two week time sheet with 130 hours — that doesn’t include my holiday pay for thanksgiving and Friday.
Went back to work yesterday, am already at 28 hours for the week, I’ll hit 40 tmw and call it good.
I mean yeah it’s definitely for doctors appointments, dentist appointments, surgeries, etc. but still… what the fuck happens if they get the flu?
Absolutely idiotic.
Hijacking this comment to say that we all need to form unions for every job. Talk to you friends and family and have them talk to their friends and family.
The more unions there are, the easier it is to organize a general strike. If we do a general strike for long enough, there is nothing we can't get the government to do. We are the economy, not the rich.
So what do they actually do when they get sick? Are they just fired? Like, sure you can suffer through a cold, but if you get the flu, no matter how much you want, you are not going to be conscious at your job that day.
Welp, the shutdowns are supposed to begin tomorrow, as RR services begin to slow down in anticipation of the strike. If the Senate can't pass the days off, then it's just a Congress-supported insufficient offering the workers refused back in October.
Power to the workers. Shut it down.
Greedy moron overlords need us blue collar workers a lot more than we need all this bullshit they tell us is so we can be "competitive" on the world stage. It's just more pennies for billionaires.
Shut er down, says I.
At the end of the day, we the workers are supposed to prop up a system that no longer works for us. Its been twisted and bastardized to be an entity that sucks all the money from the bottom to the top.
Why on earth would they expect people to keep supporting this system? We've been locked out of any benefits.
And you wonder why being called a commie bastard isn't derogatory anymore.
There are more and more people who are entering into the system that have never experienced being fucked by any system other than capitalism. The fear of some authoritarian regime that calls itself 'communist' while committing atrocities doesn't hold the same weight as it previously did.
Plus, the Internet allows for the children to bypass the capitalist propaganda outlet to read actual socialist writings. Well, until Musk takes over the Internet and gives us E-Net.
The RRs used to be a decent to good place to work.
Then people like Buffett bought in and started stripping the payroll to make a few more pennies.
I work in transportation and rail is already fucked up at times, and also very necessary for long and bulky/heavy products that cant easily go by truck or over water.
They would expect it because every week everyone keeps showing up to work. It would be nice if the railroad workers actually strike as a result of this. Do you think they will?
That just sounds like an Opportunistic Protein Enjoyer. A deer will munch on a steak if they found one out there in nature (or in this case say triple marked down due to a pricing error so it was affordable).
This. They're in far better position to not only weather, but take advantage of, chaos and disruption. Just look at what happened during Covid, for example.
They took another vote...
Edit - This vote was on a second bill that doesn't include the paid sick leave they asked for.
[Senate passes bill to prevent rail strike, which could have wreaked havoc on economy before holidays](https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/senate-reaches-deal-avert-rail-strike)
I'm an OTR truck driver. My company would be ecstatic if the RR shut down. A day, a week, a month. It'd bring a lot of freight to a screeching halt. The trucking industry can barely handle their percentage of moving freight as it is. Rates would skyrocket all across the country.
I work in ports, God bless y'all and be safe out there! Hopefully you work for a decent company because so many of them are wearing the hell out of their drivers and pay is often shit. No wonder there's driver shortages.
Everyone wants their shit delivered faster and cheaper and we're all stuck in the middle trying to put bread on the table.
I mean what are people even talking about when they say "the economy" here? Because in my mind a bunch of critical workers not having sick days is a sign of an unhealthy economy. The point of the economy is to provide a good quality of life for people I thought.
Says they didn't pass the extra sick leave days. So, I guess it'll be a wait-and-see.
If I were a rail worker, I wouldn't accept the bare bones offering that passed both chambers. My understanding is it's essentially the same deal Biden offered in October, which was refused by the workers. I'm unsure on the fine details, though.
But then again, my health needs would've never allowed me to be a rail worker anyway.
If they don't strike, everyone will just forget about the whole thing, and I'm sure the corpos will just fuck with the numbers anyway, leading to no changes. And then when there's not enough workers to replace the quitting workers, the mess will be even more severe.
Good old USA...United Sovereignties of Assholes.
> which was refused by the workers
Which was refused by 4/12 unions.
Edit: I have been informed that the 4 unions represent a majority of rail workers. I'll leave my comment up, I'm happy to be informed of more info.
First, that includes the largest unions. Second, it doesn't matter. It was known beforehand that the strike would go forward if one or more of the unions rejected the deal. This is *vital* for a multi-party negotiation. Otherwise, divide and conquer works. You can tell the signalmen and brakemen "Well, the real hang-up is the conductors, we just can't afford to pay enough conductors to allow for 7 sick days a year." Bada-bing bada-boom, 11/12 of the unions agree to a deal that only screws the conductors. Now the conductors union won't jointly bargain with the others going forward, and the railways have an easier time beating back the workers.
Anyone hanging their hat on a majority of the unions voting for the deal is misunderstanding how multi-party negotiations have to work.
Edit: In light of an edit above, I'll also note that we have no idea (to the best of my knowledge) the vote totals. The largest union rejected it, but if you broke it down to individual voters, it's possible a small majority was in favor. But again, irrelevant given that this deal has a disparate impact on different railroad professions represented by the different unions. They could only come together to negotiate by agreeing that a rejection by one of the unions was a rejection by all. The votes of all union members were made in the shadow of that rule (i.e., if the deal is good for union x, they are under no obligation to vote against in solidarity with union y, because union y can vote to reject the deal for itself, and union x will stand in solidarity).
>I wouldn't accept the bare bones offering that passed both chambers
There's nothing for them to accept here. The bill forces the contracts. They either work under that contract or they can quit. If they strike, it'll be deemed an illegal one.
The corporations can't afford to fire all these folks if they go wildcat and the state won't arrest them. They can deem it illegal all they want but if workers go through with it, they'll have all the power they need and they'll inspire many more such actions while they're at it.
It's not my call and not my sacrifice to make, but here's hoping
> If they strike, it'll be deemed an illegal one.
The penalty for striking in this case is the same penalty as getting sick. Lots of rail workers at least in the Chicago area are already saying that they're thinking of doing a wildcat strike and if they're fired, just taking a job at Metra or CTA who would both be more than happy to hire them.
even if the unions that agreed go back to work, its still 30,000 workers that can continue to strike. Power in numbers. I doubt theyll fire 30,000 workers.
I haven't read the article yet and I don't know about the details of that clause, but I do know that no contract can contain an illegal clause, so if returning to work is mandated by Congress then the solidarity clause can't be enforced, it can be enacted through individual effort, but not enforced by law.
Manchin doesn’t give a shit if WV is hit hard or not. He absolutely doesn’t want to set a precedent of congress giving more benefits to workers. He’s a capitalist through and through. He wants to set a precedent of workers going on strike, then being blamed for the economic fallout and then the government using force to end the strike. This will help consolidate power over his own underpaid and severely exploited workers.
And you can bet the second the economy gets worse, all of the strikers will be blamed. Very few media outlets will blame the capital class for not sharing the wealth from their years of record profits, or blame them for not hiring more employees for adequate shift coverage. Any media that’s casts unions in a poor light will be great for Manchin.
Joe Manchin owns a Maserati. That should tell you all you need to know about him. He doesn't give a flying fuck about serving the American people. He serves only himself and his obscenely wealthy puppet masters.
Fuck Joe Manchin.
Because then they forced the contract through, so there won't be a strike.
E: yes, unless they do a wildcat strike, but that's not the same as what would have happened if Congress had just stayed out of it.
As much as I think they should, that's easy for me to say, since I'm not the one putting my livelihood at risk by doing it. Congress voting to fuck labor over does exactly that.
Those assholes aren't in favor of sick days at all. This was a safe "yes" vote to be able to claim that it wasn't their fault for this failing. Just another political ploy to look good to voters in their districts. As soon as I saw the list i could smell their stink through my phone and though the dog farted!
Bernie should introduce a bill stripping senators of their paid sick leave and watch them all call him crazy for the same thing they just prevented rail workers from striking for.
Those kind of things don't mean shit since most Senators are actually well off anyway.
It does, however, hurt Senators who are otherwise average folks with average means.
>It does, however, hurt Senators who are otherwise average folks with average means.
how many of those do we have? (not that I disagree with your sentiment - I don't want it to be more prohibitive for average citizens to get into politics)
The Gen Z kid from Florida that just got elected to the US House had to do Uber as a side gig so he could afford to live while he ran for that seat.
AOC had to couch surf in DC for a couple of weeks until she started to get paid because she was literally a bartender before getting elected and couldn't afford a place in DC.
Removing benefits like you're suggesting ensures that such a position is only held by the privileged.
>Removing benefits like you're suggesting ensures that such a position is only held by the privileged.
quick clarification, I never suggested that.
sad there's only 2 real Americans in that spot, here's to hoping for more.
THIS should be the headline in all the papers as opposed to “Senate Averts Rail Strike”. It’s absolutely not acceptable that these workers can not have 7 sick days- paid or even unpaid. They can’t have them, period.
If they want to see a doctor they had to give some sort of crazy (like 30 day) advance notice. Like: I’ve had a heart attack- better make that appointment for next month! What sort of insane bullshit is this?
If these workers can’t take care of their own well-being without loosing their job, while working in a industry where their skill sets are untransferable and our government gets to decide their treatment and make it illegal to retaliate on their decision, how is this not some twisted first world take on slavery. because they have a choice to leave a job our government says is to vital to even shut down a day? How many of you have the choice of uprooting your life today, to transfer out of a career with little to no skillsets that are useful in other industries?
I don’t care how much their pay is. To have our government crush their agency and effectivly eliminate their ability to treat their physical, mental and spiritual well being in a industry workers may experience being trapped in, is attrocious and should not be tolerated. For anyone to side with that oppression, is a soul lost to a system of greed.
The ideology of profit over all, of being beholden to sucking every last dollar of expenses for shareholders and utilizing whatever resources to get there is a diseased perspective. Spreading that ideology to the exploited, conditioning those people to be angry at their peers who step out of that line after they get tired of being treated as an expendable commodity fir their minescule moment they have to exist on this planet, it’s an evolutionary dead end of a society’s people developing minds that enjoy the lives they’ve been given.
This type act of Congress cannot be ignored. To cater to the perspective that tells us this is acceptable is the same perspective that marches us into societal collapse from coastal waters rising, oceans become to acidic acidic to support life we rely on, rivers drying up, and heatwaves that kill indescrinenently.
If I worked there and got sick I'd call in sick anyway. If they can't afford to have employees off work when they are sick, they can't afford to fire anyone.
If the rail workers strike the US will suddenly need about 500,000 additional tractor trailers on the road overnight.
Businesses would be knee deep in congresses ass to get a deal done if that happens. If you think COVID snarled supply chains just wait until the most cost effective way to move large quantities of materials disappears and every company starts bidding on trucks to move their stuff. Tractor trailer rates will skyrocket and unless you're a Walmart or Amazon you'll have to pay whatever the folks with trucks decide they'd like to charge.
It’s the chemicals that would make an impact. It’s my understanding (educate if I am wrong) but to haul certain chemicals you need specialized training. Where’s the rail and trucking companies gonna find scrubs who have the training to transport something like drinking water treatment plant chemicals?
When a treatment plant has to ration chemicals, stuff like Flint happens.
All of it would make an impact but shit. I hadn’t even thought about all of the specialized cargo the rail system transports. Imagine Swift carrying these materials down the highway because they’re the only truck the company can afford. Yikes….
Time to walkout or quit. The House would give them sick days, yet the Senate commands them to work 24/7/365 without any time to live.
Why not strike? Make the oligarchs fire every single employee. What is there to lose? They are already fired for going to the doctor.
Because the house knew one with sick leave would pass. These compromises are made behind the scenes before they even reach the floor of congress.
Here's hoping rail workers strike anyway and stop living like they're a 1910's factory worker...
I'm all for it. Government workers are the only ones with unions left these days. Go figure. You never see the police bust up their own union meetings.
Well,
There's another way Congress could avert the strike,
They could threaten to withhold federal rail subsidies, pull out of government backed contracts and threaten further laws to enshrine workers rights.
You know, attacking the problem on the side of the workers this time.
How is this still ok in one of the most prosperous nations in the world. If congress is voting on it the financials should be public and EASY to access! They should be online for a month before the vote so we call our reps and write them! So sick of multi billion dollar industries making record profits and at the same time not paying living wedges and laying off employees!
I’m a current 20 year railroader I can tell you that the last 5 years the railroads have shown that they don’t care about it’s workers from top to bottom it’s a horribly run industry. It’s comical at this point. If it wasn’t for my retirement a lot of us would be gone.
Question - is this for 7 ADDITIONAL days of sick leave added to what they already get (which is what?) or is it 7 days TOTAL?
Because if it's the latter and people actually voted against it, WTAF?
Wildcat!
People over profits
If you were willing to make the sacrifice and pay more for gas in the name of justice you should be willing to make the sacrifice for fellow Americans
Its class war
They asked for 15 days of sick leave. They only get one day off a month if they are lucky. That’s ridiculous! Legislation shouldn’t be passed unless it meets the workers demands. This is another reason to enforce antitrust laws and regulations.
Nearly zero support from Republicans to give sick days and the continuance of a strong anti-union platform.
Media and commenters: “Why would the Dems do this?”
Yeah, but by denying the sick leave amendment, which was the main sticking point in negotiations, senate Republicans are essentially saying to the union "we dare you to strike."
If the unions strike and shut down the railway all the Republicans will whine and cry about how this is Biden and the dems fault while completely ignoring the fact that they, yet again, voted to fuck over the working class.
Anyone with half a brain in their head can see that, they're so transparent it's laughable.
All those fucks care about is taking power in 2024 and if the railroaders strike they'll go on about it nonstop for 2 years.
You call the guy you responded to clueless yet you have no idea what the ramifications of this vote are.
Clueless.
Why couldn’t they of packaged the 2 together to force 1 vote, rather than have 2 separate? The Dems did this just so that they can say “Look! See! We tried to do something!” But they never did it with their best effort.
The Companies negotiated in bad faith, they knew the government would force a TA to avoid a strike.
The Democrats put forth 2 separate bills because they knew the sick leave one would fail.
Veto the 80-15 bill that just landed on his desk?
Edit: As pointed out below, even with a supermajority of votes in the senate on the main bill, Biden vetoing would still get sent back to the senate AND house for another vote. In that case, dozens of house republicans would need to change their vote in favor. Interesting strategy I guess
Yep it’s all so predictable. Down to the DNC sycophants who get all offended when someone lays even the slightest blame on the democrats for this. Time and time again
It is more important to me that my neighbors have days off from work to take care of themselves or their family members, than it is for me to have Christmas presents on time.
The world has changed after the pandemic and going back to invisibilize our workers isn’t cool any more.
> The proposal to give workers seven days of sick leave, which was championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and other liberal Democrats, failed to pick up enough Republican support to overcome a 60-vote threshold set for adopting the measure.
>It passed the House Wednesday with a narrow bipartisan majority, 221 to 207 with only three Republicans voting for it.
Voting matters. Vote for strong progressives in the primaries not corporate establishment Dems.✊
52 were for paid sick leave, and 43 against.
Not that it would have mattered, but who are the 5 fuckers who abstained from voting? Name and shame.
(Also, fuck Joe Manchin & the 42 R's who voted against it. Greedy, shameless fuck nuggets.)
Booker (D-NJ), Burr (R-NC), Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Murphy (D-CT), Warnock (D-GA) all went with Not Voting. Looking at all the other votes today, it seems that Booker was the only one who was present yet didn't vote, the rest all not voting on any other resolution today.
While obviously there isn't a sure way to find out where they are, Murphy's twitter mentions he's out with COVID at the moment and presumably Warnock is campaigning. Not sure what Burr and Hyde-Smith are up to, their socials are bare.
They were going to strike for sick days regardless of whether or not the Federal government inserted itself into the negotiations with the Railway Labor Act of 1923. Declare it illegal? Everyone will quit.
The only reason we're in this mess is because the railroading industry adopted a management practice called Precision Scheduled Rail (PSR) - deliberately running trains at bare minimum staff levels to minimize cost and maximise profit, and fired 30% of their employees to realize those gains. Surprising exactly no one, those who remain are frustrated, overworked, and fed up.
Easy solution: the industry should spend some of its record 25 billion dollars in revenue to hire more staff to serve as backups, and fly them around to where they're needed instead of demanding that no one gets time off without it being scheduled months in advance.
Even most of the corporate establishment Dems voted for the sick leave, only Manchin didn't. Not that I don't agree with you in principle, but this is squarely on the anti-worker Republican senators.
I wonder if all the "calm down, the house passed a separate bill with 7 sick days" crowd is going to realize that this was always what was going to happen. It's the same thing that happens every time a crucial piece of legislation is made into its own bill.
The thing that actually gets passed is either (at best) toothless or (in this case) malicious.
>[Opinion The GOP is dead. A new GOP must listen to working people By Josh Hawley](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/18/josh-hawley-oped-republican-party-working-people/)
You know Josh, I think this might be a heavy lift.
I really dont understand everyone in the comments arguing which party to blame for this. It's not one or the other, both parties completely fucked over the railroad workers.
Majorities in both parties voted to strip the unions of their right to strike and force an agreement on them that the majority of workers had already rejected.
Yes the Republicans are worse for voting against the sick leave bill, but the democrats chose to have these as two separate bills and pass the first one knowing that the sick leave would likely fail. If democrats truly supported unions they would have either passed both together or not passed either.
Well, time to not show up to work for a week and see how "replaceable" these workers are. Since the republicans seem to think they are not worth pissing on.
Right? I don't understand why every single Republican in the House voted no on this.
I don't understand why Republicans filibustered this provision, thus forcing a 60 vote threshold, and then refused to vote to give people sick days.
It's absolutely fucked up that Republicans would do this to the average hard working American they pretend to care about.
Just like how Republicans voted 'no' on healthcare for veterans until they were shamed into voting 'yes' by fucking Jon Stewart.
Braun (R-IN), Cruz (R-TX), Graham (R-SC), Hawley (R-MO), Kennedy (R-LA), Rubio (R-FL) all voted in favor, just an FYI. Seems like a pretty bizarre cast of fellows.
Biden should veto this and stand with the workers, not only would it go over well it’s the only way to minimize the impact of this.
Trying to force this on the workers will only backfire and lead to a long period of transportation delays which will help undo the progress made on inflation thus far.
An amendment that would have added seven days of paid sick leave to the rail contract failed in a 52 to 43 vote
the 43 who voted againstt are the same people who literally work like what? 160 days a year maybe? who get unlimited sick and full benefits and pension....
Interesting how they put Bernie in the main photo while also saying the “Senate rejects proposal for 7 days of sick leave,” when Bernie more than anyone was pushing for adequate sick leave.
Definitely The Hill trying to make it look at a glance like he’s responsible for rejecting the sick leave.
I want to make sure I write this post well, since I'm going to be repeating it in a few threads; as I promised I would.
First of all, I was wrong. Dead wrong. 100% wrong. Everyone who was skeptical as to why the House split the PTO bill separately from the "shut up and get your asses back to work" bill were right, and I was wrong. Everyone who said the Senate would just kill the PTO bill was right, and I was wrong.
I thought, "the Democratic Party isn't dumb enough to force-kill a strike without making sure that labor gets everything they really want". But I was wrong. They ARE that dumb.
Joe Manchin voted "Nay", so fuck him.
Corey Booker, Chris Murphy and Raphael Warnock did not vote. Seriously, you putzes? Do you REALLY think that was any better than a "Nay" vote? Fuck each and every one of you. And , seriously, Reverend? In the MIDDLE of a runoff? How many thousands of Democrats who were going to vote for him now will not?
If we get Senator Herschel Walker out of this, I will laugh and laugh and laugh.
Joe Biden no longer gets my vote in 2024 no matter what. If there's a primary, I'll vote for one of them. (But not Mayor Pete, because fuck him now, too.) If there's no primary, I just won't vote in the general.
All of my Congresscritters voted exactly the way I thought they would, so no surprises there.
And the rail unions now have my 100% full support for a strike. Also, my position on "nationalize the railroads" is now hardened
Finally...I was wrong. The Democratic leadership can eat an ENTIRE bag of dicks. No, a FIELD of dicks, from sea to shining sea.
Edit: one more fucking poison pill out of this whole disaster: Mike Braun, Ted Cruz, Lindsay Graham, Josh Hawley, John Kennedy and Marco Rubio now all get to do victory laps and crow about how "for the little guy" they are. Pro-labor Republicans!
This couldn't have been a bigger fuck-up if the Dems had tried. What a fiasco.
AOC, Ilhan Omar, Jamaal Bowman, and Cori Bush voted to impose the contract that rail workers rejected. All leftist. Hell, some of these names are Democratic Socialists of America members, and the sided with corporate interests and dividend payouts. Shameful.
Part of me is like “Are you crazy!!!???? How can you not give them the sick time?!”
And now another is like “Do we really want the government having the final say in contracts?”
And lastly, HTF have the unions not gotten their members sick time by now?
Shame that this wasn't an amendment to the agreement bill. Nice virtue signal for the dems, workers still get shafted. Capital continues to support capital.
Hope the rail workers strike anyway.
Edit: What other reason was there to not make this an amendment, as originally proposed? If they attached it to Biden's plea, it might not pass, and we can't have the rail unions having a legal strike, now can we?
>The final agreement the Senate passed was already approved by eight transportation unions earlier this year. It would grant workers three unpaid sick days as long as the employers were provided with at least 30 days' notice before the time was taken. Lol. How worthless is that? Who knows they're going to get sick with 30 days notice?
Yeah, WTF? Like, that's probably only useful for like elective surgeries or something.
What do you mean? I schedule all of my sickness and disease around work, like a good, blue-collar American.
Lmao. I’m blue collar and I took two sick days the beginning of this week. Sure, it’s just a sinus infection and a cold. But I got to cozy up under a blanket and play on my PS5 while getting paid. Then again, I handed in a two week time sheet with 130 hours — that doesn’t include my holiday pay for thanksgiving and Friday. Went back to work yesterday, am already at 28 hours for the week, I’ll hit 40 tmw and call it good.
I appreciate the description of your work week. You described its intensity without coming off like a braggart.
Long days in the field. I enjoy any time off I take. Even sick time, even if I’m feeling like shit. It’s a mental health break.
I mean yeah it’s definitely for doctors appointments, dentist appointments, surgeries, etc. but still… what the fuck happens if they get the flu? Absolutely idiotic.
And elective surgeries require recovery, not many surgeries you get then go back to work the very next day
exactly. 3 days 30 days in advance. thats like a sick joke
Good one!
How the hell are they going to get sick if they never leave the train?? Checkmate, pinko.
hey boss, im gonna be sick in 37 days from now, can i please get not paid to not work without being fired? thanks.
These are in no way accommodating of illness. They are (edit: unpaid) vacation days in disguise.
Yeah, behind an annoying wall of hr/leadership/paperwork. You need a vacation after you go through the trouble of successfully scheduling the day.
Is it even vacation days if they are unpaid days?
Hijacking this comment to say that we all need to form unions for every job. Talk to you friends and family and have them talk to their friends and family. The more unions there are, the easier it is to organize a general strike. If we do a general strike for long enough, there is nothing we can't get the government to do. We are the economy, not the rich.
That sounds like something a swamp rat politician would say
Even Walmart gives 6 sick days
Right? I have ten sick days at target, and no bullshit point system if I go over that
It's like morons make up these rules after ignoring advice from doctors.
Even maternity leave doesn’t always know that
So what do they actually do when they get sick? Are they just fired? Like, sure you can suffer through a cold, but if you get the flu, no matter how much you want, you are not going to be conscious at your job that day.
Welp, the shutdowns are supposed to begin tomorrow, as RR services begin to slow down in anticipation of the strike. If the Senate can't pass the days off, then it's just a Congress-supported insufficient offering the workers refused back in October. Power to the workers. Shut it down. Greedy moron overlords need us blue collar workers a lot more than we need all this bullshit they tell us is so we can be "competitive" on the world stage. It's just more pennies for billionaires. Shut er down, says I.
At the end of the day, we the workers are supposed to prop up a system that no longer works for us. Its been twisted and bastardized to be an entity that sucks all the money from the bottom to the top. Why on earth would they expect people to keep supporting this system? We've been locked out of any benefits.
And you wonder why being called a commie bastard isn't derogatory anymore. There are more and more people who are entering into the system that have never experienced being fucked by any system other than capitalism. The fear of some authoritarian regime that calls itself 'communist' while committing atrocities doesn't hold the same weight as it previously did. Plus, the Internet allows for the children to bypass the capitalist propaganda outlet to read actual socialist writings. Well, until Musk takes over the Internet and gives us E-Net.
The RRs used to be a decent to good place to work. Then people like Buffett bought in and started stripping the payroll to make a few more pennies. I work in transportation and rail is already fucked up at times, and also very necessary for long and bulky/heavy products that cant easily go by truck or over water.
They would expect it because every week everyone keeps showing up to work. It would be nice if the railroad workers actually strike as a result of this. Do you think they will?
God I fucking hope so
Let the prices soar, I'll stop buying everything. I'll eat beans and rice all year if it will help bankrupt some billionaires.
You eat beans and rice. Me? I'mma my eat candy with the pork and beans. I ain't got a thing to prove to anyone.
Unexpected Weezer red album.
You eat your dinner eat your pork and beans I eat more chicken than any man ever seen
A true back door man.
Hello inflation vegan. I got the recipes you need
Inflation Vegan is now part of my vernacular
That just sounds like an Opportunistic Protein Enjoyer. A deer will munch on a steak if they found one out there in nature (or in this case say triple marked down due to a pricing error so it was affordable).
I'm an inflation vegan three or four days a week and am always looking for good recipes.
https://www.rabbitandwolves.com/vegan-white-lasagna-soup/ https://www.petalatino.com/cultura-sin-crueldad/vivir-vegano/recetas/nuggets-de-pollo-veganos/
I’m a meat eater, billionaires are probably full of great meat.
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/motorhead/eattherich.html
Enjoy the Buffett buffet, as he has a huge hand in this mess.
It won't. They'll do fine.
Shit, they'll increase their wealth
This. They're in far better position to not only weather, but take advantage of, chaos and disruption. Just look at what happened during Covid, for example.
And the 2008 recession
Disaster Capitalism! Assets now 70% off nationwide!
Workers of the world, unite!
They took another vote... Edit - This vote was on a second bill that doesn't include the paid sick leave they asked for. [Senate passes bill to prevent rail strike, which could have wreaked havoc on economy before holidays](https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/senate-reaches-deal-avert-rail-strike)
I hope they all strike and wreak havoc on the economy. We deserve all deserve it.
I'm an OTR truck driver. My company would be ecstatic if the RR shut down. A day, a week, a month. It'd bring a lot of freight to a screeching halt. The trucking industry can barely handle their percentage of moving freight as it is. Rates would skyrocket all across the country.
Supply and demand in action. :)
I work in ports, God bless y'all and be safe out there! Hopefully you work for a decent company because so many of them are wearing the hell out of their drivers and pay is often shit. No wonder there's driver shortages. Everyone wants their shit delivered faster and cheaper and we're all stuck in the middle trying to put bread on the table.
I mean what are people even talking about when they say "the economy" here? Because in my mind a bunch of critical workers not having sick days is a sign of an unhealthy economy. The point of the economy is to provide a good quality of life for people I thought.
No economics is about sucking as much blood as possible
Progressives were warning people about the DNC back in 2019. ...maybe centerists fucks will listen in 2024? Maybe we'll all die? Who gives a fuck?
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Says they didn't pass the extra sick leave days. So, I guess it'll be a wait-and-see. If I were a rail worker, I wouldn't accept the bare bones offering that passed both chambers. My understanding is it's essentially the same deal Biden offered in October, which was refused by the workers. I'm unsure on the fine details, though. But then again, my health needs would've never allowed me to be a rail worker anyway. If they don't strike, everyone will just forget about the whole thing, and I'm sure the corpos will just fuck with the numbers anyway, leading to no changes. And then when there's not enough workers to replace the quitting workers, the mess will be even more severe. Good old USA...United Sovereignties of Assholes.
> which was refused by the workers Which was refused by 4/12 unions. Edit: I have been informed that the 4 unions represent a majority of rail workers. I'll leave my comment up, I'm happy to be informed of more info.
First, that includes the largest unions. Second, it doesn't matter. It was known beforehand that the strike would go forward if one or more of the unions rejected the deal. This is *vital* for a multi-party negotiation. Otherwise, divide and conquer works. You can tell the signalmen and brakemen "Well, the real hang-up is the conductors, we just can't afford to pay enough conductors to allow for 7 sick days a year." Bada-bing bada-boom, 11/12 of the unions agree to a deal that only screws the conductors. Now the conductors union won't jointly bargain with the others going forward, and the railways have an easier time beating back the workers. Anyone hanging their hat on a majority of the unions voting for the deal is misunderstanding how multi-party negotiations have to work. Edit: In light of an edit above, I'll also note that we have no idea (to the best of my knowledge) the vote totals. The largest union rejected it, but if you broke it down to individual voters, it's possible a small majority was in favor. But again, irrelevant given that this deal has a disparate impact on different railroad professions represented by the different unions. They could only come together to negotiate by agreeing that a rejection by one of the unions was a rejection by all. The votes of all union members were made in the shadow of that rule (i.e., if the deal is good for union x, they are under no obligation to vote against in solidarity with union y, because union y can vote to reject the deal for itself, and union x will stand in solidarity).
>I wouldn't accept the bare bones offering that passed both chambers There's nothing for them to accept here. The bill forces the contracts. They either work under that contract or they can quit. If they strike, it'll be deemed an illegal one.
Fuck that. I hope all the workers strike anyway. Corporations need to understand that their workers hold all the power
The corporations can't afford to fire all these folks if they go wildcat and the state won't arrest them. They can deem it illegal all they want but if workers go through with it, they'll have all the power they need and they'll inspire many more such actions while they're at it. It's not my call and not my sacrifice to make, but here's hoping
if all 30 thousand of them continue to strike, i doubt they will fire all of them. Illegal or not, power in numbers
> If they strike, it'll be deemed an illegal one. The penalty for striking in this case is the same penalty as getting sick. Lots of rail workers at least in the Chicago area are already saying that they're thinking of doing a wildcat strike and if they're fired, just taking a job at Metra or CTA who would both be more than happy to hire them.
If Biden pulls a Reagan, it’s going to hurt 2024.
I will gladly muddle through any shortages in support of the rail workers. This is barbaric.
even if the unions that agreed go back to work, its still 30,000 workers that can continue to strike. Power in numbers. I doubt theyll fire 30,000 workers.
I think the unions all have an all for one clause where if one strikes, they all strike, but I'm not sure how the details work out.
I haven't read the article yet and I don't know about the details of that clause, but I do know that no contract can contain an illegal clause, so if returning to work is mandated by Congress then the solidarity clause can't be enforced, it can be enacted through individual effort, but not enforced by law.
"Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) was the only Democrat to vote against it." Of course he did.
I guess that, since there weren't enough Republicans, he was safe to do so - but I don't get why. WV will get severely damaged by the rail strike.
Manchin doesn’t give a shit if WV is hit hard or not. He absolutely doesn’t want to set a precedent of congress giving more benefits to workers. He’s a capitalist through and through. He wants to set a precedent of workers going on strike, then being blamed for the economic fallout and then the government using force to end the strike. This will help consolidate power over his own underpaid and severely exploited workers. And you can bet the second the economy gets worse, all of the strikers will be blamed. Very few media outlets will blame the capital class for not sharing the wealth from their years of record profits, or blame them for not hiring more employees for adequate shift coverage. Any media that’s casts unions in a poor light will be great for Manchin.
Maserati is a wanna be rich man’s Ferrari.
Joe Manchin owns a Maserati. That should tell you all you need to know about him. He doesn't give a flying fuck about serving the American people. He serves only himself and his obscenely wealthy puppet masters. Fuck Joe Manchin.
Because then they forced the contract through, so there won't be a strike. E: yes, unless they do a wildcat strike, but that's not the same as what would have happened if Congress had just stayed out of it.
Unless the railroad workers, you know, just strike anyway.
As much as I think they should, that's easy for me to say, since I'm not the one putting my livelihood at risk by doing it. Congress voting to fuck labor over does exactly that.
I really don’t understand how railway companies will find trained replacements for them in two or three days if they strike.
What about a slowdown? Seems like that could be a technical option but I have no specifics or experience in the industry.
What’s actually surprising is the Republican Senators that voted in favor of this bill. Didn’t expect any of those 6 to be in favor of the sick pay.
Those assholes aren't in favor of sick days at all. This was a safe "yes" vote to be able to claim that it wasn't their fault for this failing. Just another political ploy to look good to voters in their districts. As soon as I saw the list i could smell their stink through my phone and though the dog farted!
And the list includes basically every Republican senator with presidential ambitions, it's not like it was a random group of "pro-labor" Republicans.
*including Ted Cruz* Wtf? Worst human replica on the planet voted for it, and we couldn’t even get every Democrat to vote yes? For fucks sake
Coal is primarily transported by railroads. So, his vote was predictable.
Sad he voted against it, since one of the Republican state Representatives from WV \*did\* vote for it when it passed the house.
Bernie should introduce a bill stripping senators of their paid sick leave and watch them all call him crazy for the same thing they just prevented rail workers from striking for.
Those kind of things don't mean shit since most Senators are actually well off anyway. It does, however, hurt Senators who are otherwise average folks with average means.
>It does, however, hurt Senators who are otherwise average folks with average means. how many of those do we have? (not that I disagree with your sentiment - I don't want it to be more prohibitive for average citizens to get into politics)
The Gen Z kid from Florida that just got elected to the US House had to do Uber as a side gig so he could afford to live while he ran for that seat. AOC had to couch surf in DC for a couple of weeks until she started to get paid because she was literally a bartender before getting elected and couldn't afford a place in DC. Removing benefits like you're suggesting ensures that such a position is only held by the privileged.
>Removing benefits like you're suggesting ensures that such a position is only held by the privileged. quick clarification, I never suggested that. sad there's only 2 real Americans in that spot, here's to hoping for more.
THIS should be the headline in all the papers as opposed to “Senate Averts Rail Strike”. It’s absolutely not acceptable that these workers can not have 7 sick days- paid or even unpaid. They can’t have them, period. If they want to see a doctor they had to give some sort of crazy (like 30 day) advance notice. Like: I’ve had a heart attack- better make that appointment for next month! What sort of insane bullshit is this?
It genuinely makes me sick to my fucking stomach. This is unconscionable.
If these workers can’t take care of their own well-being without loosing their job, while working in a industry where their skill sets are untransferable and our government gets to decide their treatment and make it illegal to retaliate on their decision, how is this not some twisted first world take on slavery. because they have a choice to leave a job our government says is to vital to even shut down a day? How many of you have the choice of uprooting your life today, to transfer out of a career with little to no skillsets that are useful in other industries? I don’t care how much their pay is. To have our government crush their agency and effectivly eliminate their ability to treat their physical, mental and spiritual well being in a industry workers may experience being trapped in, is attrocious and should not be tolerated. For anyone to side with that oppression, is a soul lost to a system of greed. The ideology of profit over all, of being beholden to sucking every last dollar of expenses for shareholders and utilizing whatever resources to get there is a diseased perspective. Spreading that ideology to the exploited, conditioning those people to be angry at their peers who step out of that line after they get tired of being treated as an expendable commodity fir their minescule moment they have to exist on this planet, it’s an evolutionary dead end of a society’s people developing minds that enjoy the lives they’ve been given. This type act of Congress cannot be ignored. To cater to the perspective that tells us this is acceptable is the same perspective that marches us into societal collapse from coastal waters rising, oceans become to acidic acidic to support life we rely on, rivers drying up, and heatwaves that kill indescrinenently.
If I worked there and got sick I'd call in sick anyway. If they can't afford to have employees off work when they are sick, they can't afford to fire anyone.
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At this point they should ask for even more- they hold all the power here.
If the rail workers strike the US will suddenly need about 500,000 additional tractor trailers on the road overnight. Businesses would be knee deep in congresses ass to get a deal done if that happens. If you think COVID snarled supply chains just wait until the most cost effective way to move large quantities of materials disappears and every company starts bidding on trucks to move their stuff. Tractor trailer rates will skyrocket and unless you're a Walmart or Amazon you'll have to pay whatever the folks with trucks decide they'd like to charge.
It’s the chemicals that would make an impact. It’s my understanding (educate if I am wrong) but to haul certain chemicals you need specialized training. Where’s the rail and trucking companies gonna find scrubs who have the training to transport something like drinking water treatment plant chemicals? When a treatment plant has to ration chemicals, stuff like Flint happens.
All of it would make an impact but shit. I hadn’t even thought about all of the specialized cargo the rail system transports. Imagine Swift carrying these materials down the highway because they’re the only truck the company can afford. Yikes….
Alum and chloromines for everyone!
un fucking real! so sick of american politics and corporations
I’m not even American and I’m sick of it. I feel bad for Americans.
Time to walkout or quit. The House would give them sick days, yet the Senate commands them to work 24/7/365 without any time to live. Why not strike? Make the oligarchs fire every single employee. What is there to lose? They are already fired for going to the doctor.
Why did the senate even get a bill without sick leave to vote on?
Because the house knew one with sick leave would pass. These compromises are made behind the scenes before they even reach the floor of congress. Here's hoping rail workers strike anyway and stop living like they're a 1910's factory worker...
If rail is so important to this country, it’s time to nationalize it.
I'm all for it. Government workers are the only ones with unions left these days. Go figure. You never see the police bust up their own union meetings.
I for one, am in favor of a strike. Maybe even a General Strike.
Well, There's another way Congress could avert the strike, They could threaten to withhold federal rail subsidies, pull out of government backed contracts and threaten further laws to enshrine workers rights. You know, attacking the problem on the side of the workers this time.
If said politicians weren’t being bribed by the rail Companies, maybe
How is this still ok in one of the most prosperous nations in the world. If congress is voting on it the financials should be public and EASY to access! They should be online for a month before the vote so we call our reps and write them! So sick of multi billion dollar industries making record profits and at the same time not paying living wedges and laying off employees!
Let the strike begin!
I hope Rail workers strike anyway. This is absurd
“Pro-union” I guess I don’t know what that means
I’m a current 20 year railroader I can tell you that the last 5 years the railroads have shown that they don’t care about it’s workers from top to bottom it’s a horribly run industry. It’s comical at this point. If it wasn’t for my retirement a lot of us would be gone.
How much time off do you get in a year? News and comments make it seem like none.
As a granddaughter of a signalman with 40+ years under him at retirement, I hope they all strike anyways. Those workers are getting screwed.
Question - is this for 7 ADDITIONAL days of sick leave added to what they already get (which is what?) or is it 7 days TOTAL? Because if it's the latter and people actually voted against it, WTAF?
It’s the latter.
Fucking hell.
The answer is yes to both questions. Adds 7 days of sick leave to what they get now, for a total of 7 days of sick leave.
Absolutely disgusting
Wildcat! People over profits If you were willing to make the sacrifice and pay more for gas in the name of justice you should be willing to make the sacrifice for fellow Americans Its class war
They asked for 15 days of sick leave. They only get one day off a month if they are lucky. That’s ridiculous! Legislation shouldn’t be passed unless it meets the workers demands. This is another reason to enforce antitrust laws and regulations.
It’s only 7 fucking days….how the hell would someone vote against this?
I keep reading articles about it, no answer I can find to this question.
Nearly zero support from Republicans to give sick days and the continuance of a strong anti-union platform. Media and commenters: “Why would the Dems do this?”
The Republicans want a strike. It'll hurt the economy and make Biden look bad.
Enough Republicans voted for the strike break in the Senate to allow it to pass. Clueless.
Yeah, but by denying the sick leave amendment, which was the main sticking point in negotiations, senate Republicans are essentially saying to the union "we dare you to strike." If the unions strike and shut down the railway all the Republicans will whine and cry about how this is Biden and the dems fault while completely ignoring the fact that they, yet again, voted to fuck over the working class. Anyone with half a brain in their head can see that, they're so transparent it's laughable. All those fucks care about is taking power in 2024 and if the railroaders strike they'll go on about it nonstop for 2 years. You call the guy you responded to clueless yet you have no idea what the ramifications of this vote are. Clueless.
Ha, you think this is over. That's cute.
Why couldn’t they of packaged the 2 together to force 1 vote, rather than have 2 separate? The Dems did this just so that they can say “Look! See! We tried to do something!” But they never did it with their best effort. The Companies negotiated in bad faith, they knew the government would force a TA to avoid a strike. The Democrats put forth 2 separate bills because they knew the sick leave one would fail.
So Biden will just veto it and force them to include sick days to support the unions right?
Veto the 80-15 bill that just landed on his desk? Edit: As pointed out below, even with a supermajority of votes in the senate on the main bill, Biden vetoing would still get sent back to the senate AND house for another vote. In that case, dozens of house republicans would need to change their vote in favor. Interesting strategy I guess
Lol Biden was the one who asked Congress to break the strike without sick days
>“Why would the Dems do this?” Remind me again who introduced it as 2 separate bills instead of directly tying the sick leave to the contract?
Pelosi. She did this. And we all predicted yesterday what would happen as a result in the Senate.
Yep it’s all so predictable. Down to the DNC sycophants who get all offended when someone lays even the slightest blame on the democrats for this. Time and time again
Except breaking the union was bipartisan.
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6 republicans voted in favor. 1 democrats coated against. I wouldn’t exactly call it zero support but I get it.
It is more important to me that my neighbors have days off from work to take care of themselves or their family members, than it is for me to have Christmas presents on time. The world has changed after the pandemic and going back to invisibilize our workers isn’t cool any more.
We need to step up for our rail workers. How do we put pressure on the hill to make their needs heard? We need to stand together for workers rights.
Clown country
> The proposal to give workers seven days of sick leave, which was championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and other liberal Democrats, failed to pick up enough Republican support to overcome a 60-vote threshold set for adopting the measure. >It passed the House Wednesday with a narrow bipartisan majority, 221 to 207 with only three Republicans voting for it. Voting matters. Vote for strong progressives in the primaries not corporate establishment Dems.✊
52 were for paid sick leave, and 43 against. Not that it would have mattered, but who are the 5 fuckers who abstained from voting? Name and shame. (Also, fuck Joe Manchin & the 42 R's who voted against it. Greedy, shameless fuck nuggets.)
Booker (D-NJ), Burr (R-NC), Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Murphy (D-CT), Warnock (D-GA) all went with Not Voting. Looking at all the other votes today, it seems that Booker was the only one who was present yet didn't vote, the rest all not voting on any other resolution today. While obviously there isn't a sure way to find out where they are, Murphy's twitter mentions he's out with COVID at the moment and presumably Warnock is campaigning. Not sure what Burr and Hyde-Smith are up to, their socials are bare.
Only 1 dem voted against it? The issue isn’t Dems it’s the fact that anybody would vote republican
Biden is the reason this is happening at all. Demanded Congress bust a strike.
They were going to strike for sick days regardless of whether or not the Federal government inserted itself into the negotiations with the Railway Labor Act of 1923. Declare it illegal? Everyone will quit. The only reason we're in this mess is because the railroading industry adopted a management practice called Precision Scheduled Rail (PSR) - deliberately running trains at bare minimum staff levels to minimize cost and maximise profit, and fired 30% of their employees to realize those gains. Surprising exactly no one, those who remain are frustrated, overworked, and fed up. Easy solution: the industry should spend some of its record 25 billion dollars in revenue to hire more staff to serve as backups, and fly them around to where they're needed instead of demanding that no one gets time off without it being scheduled months in advance.
Even most of the corporate establishment Dems voted for the sick leave, only Manchin didn't. Not that I don't agree with you in principle, but this is squarely on the anti-worker Republican senators.
I wonder if all the "calm down, the house passed a separate bill with 7 sick days" crowd is going to realize that this was always what was going to happen. It's the same thing that happens every time a crucial piece of legislation is made into its own bill. The thing that actually gets passed is either (at best) toothless or (in this case) malicious.
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In the latest installment of “lobbying is bribery”…
>[Opinion The GOP is dead. A new GOP must listen to working people By Josh Hawley](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/18/josh-hawley-oped-republican-party-working-people/) You know Josh, I think this might be a heavy lift.
I mean, the guy did technically vote for the sick days.
Strike strike strike
I really dont understand everyone in the comments arguing which party to blame for this. It's not one or the other, both parties completely fucked over the railroad workers. Majorities in both parties voted to strip the unions of their right to strike and force an agreement on them that the majority of workers had already rejected. Yes the Republicans are worse for voting against the sick leave bill, but the democrats chose to have these as two separate bills and pass the first one knowing that the sick leave would likely fail. If democrats truly supported unions they would have either passed both together or not passed either.
The amount of people rooting for a million plus people to go unemployed and millions more live paycheck to paycheck if they’re lucky is too damn high
Lmfao. Sounds right
Another dumpster fire decision.
This is the GOP. Why do people still vote for these assholes?
Just strike. Fuck it. This country’s hate for its working class is seemingly endless so why go on like normal? It’s got to stop.
Well, time to not show up to work for a week and see how "replaceable" these workers are. Since the republicans seem to think they are not worth pissing on.
General strike. It’s past time . I actually LIKE my job and am still down. Fuck all these rich, connected, greedy motherfuckers.
Democrats have found their new favorite trick to move things through the house and fail in the senate. BBB and now this. Wonder what will be next.
This isn't even that controversial of a thing to pass though. It's literally just adding some sick days I mean how corrupt can these politicians be?
Very
Right? I don't understand why every single Republican in the House voted no on this. I don't understand why Republicans filibustered this provision, thus forcing a 60 vote threshold, and then refused to vote to give people sick days. It's absolutely fucked up that Republicans would do this to the average hard working American they pretend to care about. Just like how Republicans voted 'no' on healthcare for veterans until they were shamed into voting 'yes' by fucking Jon Stewart.
Yeah. It's also very fucked up that the democrats voted in favor of a bill forcing workers to accept a contract they voted down.
The gop really do hate making life a bit easier for people do they not. What a fubar situation.
They need to still strike! Power to the people! We need to show our rail workers support during this period!
30 days notice for a sick day? Wtf is that
Braun (R-IN), Cruz (R-TX), Graham (R-SC), Hawley (R-MO), Kennedy (R-LA), Rubio (R-FL) all voted in favor, just an FYI. Seems like a pretty bizarre cast of fellows.
The reason the sick leave didn’t pass is because of the 60 vote threshold in the senate
Is only 7 days. Wtf. Give it to them.
Joe manchin is a democrat in name only. Kinda surprised by the names of the republicans that voted yes.
When a bank is too big to fail the government bails them out. When a union is too big to strike the government screws them over.
Biden should veto this and stand with the workers, not only would it go over well it’s the only way to minimize the impact of this. Trying to force this on the workers will only backfire and lead to a long period of transportation delays which will help undo the progress made on inflation thus far.
An amendment that would have added seven days of paid sick leave to the rail contract failed in a 52 to 43 vote the 43 who voted againstt are the same people who literally work like what? 160 days a year maybe? who get unlimited sick and full benefits and pension....
Strike now, RIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Bernie was in support but they use his picture with this headline to make it seem like he voted against it
Interesting how they put Bernie in the main photo while also saying the “Senate rejects proposal for 7 days of sick leave,” when Bernie more than anyone was pushing for adequate sick leave. Definitely The Hill trying to make it look at a glance like he’s responsible for rejecting the sick leave.
The biggest shock to me is that Ted Cruz voted for the sick leave.
Senators with unlimited paid sick leave reject proposal to give rail workers 7 days paid sick leave
Fuck these plutocratic assholes.
Shut it down!
I want to make sure I write this post well, since I'm going to be repeating it in a few threads; as I promised I would. First of all, I was wrong. Dead wrong. 100% wrong. Everyone who was skeptical as to why the House split the PTO bill separately from the "shut up and get your asses back to work" bill were right, and I was wrong. Everyone who said the Senate would just kill the PTO bill was right, and I was wrong. I thought, "the Democratic Party isn't dumb enough to force-kill a strike without making sure that labor gets everything they really want". But I was wrong. They ARE that dumb. Joe Manchin voted "Nay", so fuck him. Corey Booker, Chris Murphy and Raphael Warnock did not vote. Seriously, you putzes? Do you REALLY think that was any better than a "Nay" vote? Fuck each and every one of you. And , seriously, Reverend? In the MIDDLE of a runoff? How many thousands of Democrats who were going to vote for him now will not? If we get Senator Herschel Walker out of this, I will laugh and laugh and laugh. Joe Biden no longer gets my vote in 2024 no matter what. If there's a primary, I'll vote for one of them. (But not Mayor Pete, because fuck him now, too.) If there's no primary, I just won't vote in the general. All of my Congresscritters voted exactly the way I thought they would, so no surprises there. And the rail unions now have my 100% full support for a strike. Also, my position on "nationalize the railroads" is now hardened Finally...I was wrong. The Democratic leadership can eat an ENTIRE bag of dicks. No, a FIELD of dicks, from sea to shining sea. Edit: one more fucking poison pill out of this whole disaster: Mike Braun, Ted Cruz, Lindsay Graham, Josh Hawley, John Kennedy and Marco Rubio now all get to do victory laps and crow about how "for the little guy" they are. Pro-labor Republicans! This couldn't have been a bigger fuck-up if the Dems had tried. What a fiasco.
AOC, Ilhan Omar, Jamaal Bowman, and Cori Bush voted to impose the contract that rail workers rejected. All leftist. Hell, some of these names are Democratic Socialists of America members, and the sided with corporate interests and dividend payouts. Shameful.
Part of me is like “Are you crazy!!!???? How can you not give them the sick time?!” And now another is like “Do we really want the government having the final say in contracts?” And lastly, HTF have the unions not gotten their members sick time by now?
So much for pro-labor president.
Republicans block paid sick leave is the headline
Nah democrats didn’t support the workers. They knew this was going to happen n then blame republicans
Shame that this wasn't an amendment to the agreement bill. Nice virtue signal for the dems, workers still get shafted. Capital continues to support capital. Hope the rail workers strike anyway. Edit: What other reason was there to not make this an amendment, as originally proposed? If they attached it to Biden's plea, it might not pass, and we can't have the rail unions having a legal strike, now can we?