The railroad workers' unions are demanding something that virtually everybody who works is entitled to: paid sick leave. Joe Biden has sold out the unions and workers that helped elect him but opposed their efforts to obtain the basic benefit of sick time, that they deserve. Good job, Joe, you're becoming more of an enemy to the people who elected you, and everybody else who is not rich and comfortable, every single day. Rail unions decry Biden’s call for Congress to block strike. Businesses praise the plan https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/29/busi...NPJrdzTcgCGjEu3ao0vREFxq4UjcUPmoyfxGsoUO_xowY — President Joe Biden was in the unusual position Tuesday of being praised by business interests and attacked by his normal allies in the labor movement after calling for Congress to move immediately to block a strike by more than 100,000 union members at the nation’s freight railroads set for the end of next week. The move was a serious setback for the unions, who say they needed the right to strike in order to get railroad management to negotiate over their major demand to give workers sick days that are not in the current contracts. They say the railroads, many of which reported record profits last year, are enjoying even stronger profits this year and can afford to meet the union’s demands.
Reminiscent of the air traffic controllers strike of 1981,,, wherein a striking union could cripple the nation… I’m 100% pro union, but I can also see this is a difficult call…
Wouldn't that be wild if congress said no and then all of the union workers caught covid at the exact same time? And they all had to stri... I mean isolate for 2 weeks?
It is absolutely wrong of Biden to side with the railroad company's decision to deny some of their workers the basic benefit of having paid sick leave. Biden is a modern-day slave trader, with his undocumented migrant workers, sanctuary cities to support them, exploitation, etc. Biden is only doing things that benefit the wealthy elite that supported him. Everybody else, as far as he is concerned, can go screw themselves. The Democratic Party of today is a total disgrace.
I don’t disagree with you at all on this point,,, not at all… Still, as President of 330,000,000 needing railroads to continue in operation, I don’t see what other choice he has… I agreed with the air traffic controllers in 1981, even when a Republican President fired nigh 12,000 of them,,, and I don’t see what other choice Reagan had either…
The air traffic controllers strike was over 40 years ago, and they were very highly paid. This is the 21st Century, and all these railroad workers want is 10 paid sick days a year, but the contract will not be signed by the companies to allow for this. Biden supported the firing of people who would not get a useless, dangerous Covid shot, and now he's going full out against basic sick time for hard-working, important railroad employees who were not paid when they were not working during the Covid crisis. He is a liar and a hypocrite.
He is in politics, and holds a political office,,, “liar” and “hypocrite” are prerequisite qualities in such situations…
All they're asking for is FOUR paid days of sick leave per year. That's not a typo - four paid days of sick leave, per year, and they can't even get that. What is Biden going to do about this, prevent the strike and screw the union and workers? We will soon see.
What ever his decision, depending from where it’s viewed, it’ll be the wrong one… The President literally cannot force an industry to give its employees sick leave, but Congress and the Senate could pass a law mandating a given number of days of sick leave for all employees everywhere… If the strike stop the trains, all Americans suffer… If Biden stops the strike, the rail workers suffer… No easy answers… For the record, when I was a union carpenter, and later as a union longshoreman, I received no sick leave days, and no vacation days… Nonunion jobs it’s pretty much a given there’ll be no sick leave days…
My thought had been that given the possible effects that it would be a good idea for the government to supply the amount needed to pay for the leave. I am pleased to hear that Bernie sanders is pushing this idea and it has bipartisan support. A high end estimate would have this around 184 million. I would gladly pay an extra 50 cents a year on taxes a year to avoid paying an extra 50 cents on everything I buy everyday.
Washington State made 1 hr sick leave for every 40 hours worked manditory for all employees, and employers have to pay for it.
That will work, until every company demands that the Govt pay for sick leave for their company also. What is the estimate for that, Couple hundred billion, a trillion?
As far as I can see this is more to appease workers. It is letting the companies off the hook for certain. If in the future similar actions are needed to avert catastrophe I think ideally they would be met on a case by case basis. If shit is not dealt with it could have billions and trillions of dollars impact imo .
Ontario just had something similar with a teacher strike. The Province actually passed 'back to work legislation' that made any strike illegal. So what did the union do, they said "Go ahead. Fine us as much as you want. Fire whoever you want. We're striking anyways!!!". The province was back at the negotiating table the next day.
The rail road has the option to file a Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) claim. They do not pay into Social security or SSD and also do not contribute to workers compensation. Maybe if they were to become private corporations and not considered federal employees things would be different for them. I think they need to lobby to change the FELA to make it more current.
Biden has no business sticking his head into the potential strike. All it will do is that both sides will get screwed.
“In a 221 to 207 vote, the House also approved a separate resolution to provide seven days of paid sick leave in the contract instead of one, which is rail workers' main disagreement with the current agreement. Both measures now head to the Senate.” House approves bill to prevent rail workers strike in bipartisan vote
Progressives in Congress Begin to Push Back Against Biden Betrayal of Rail Workers "What we're seeing is an inhumane deal being pushed onto workers even after a majority voted it down," said Rep. Jamaal Bowman. Unions had originally asked for 15 paid sick days but are now demanding at least four. The railroad industry, which has raked in massive profits in recent years while driving workers into the ground, has refused to grant even a single paid sick day. The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED), one of the major rail unions that voted to reject the tentative contract deal, said in a statement Tuesday that it is "deeply disappointed by and disagrees with" Biden's decision to pressure Congress to impose the inadequate agreement on workers. "A call to Congress to act immediately to pass legislation that adopts tentative agreements that exclude paid sick leave ignores the Railroad Workers' concerns," BMWED added. "It both denies Railroad Workers their right to strike while also denying them the benefit they would likely otherwise obtain if they were not denied their right to strike." "BMWED calls upon President Biden and any member of Congress that truly supports the Working Class to act swiftly by passing any sort of reforms and regulations that will provide paid sick leave for all Railroad Workers," the union continued. "BMWED will continue fighting for paid sick days for every Railroad Worker because it is unreasonable and unjust to insist a person perform critical work when they are unwell." https://www.commondreams.org/news/2...push-back-against-biden-betrayal-rail-workers