Glad Biden is doing that. Good move.
Just wait until some lemming explains why this is bad for unions and Biden is the devil in Big Oil pockets because he refused to have the whole economy hostage for a conflict. When he still negotiated after the fact and the workers got what they wanted.
What is with all of these articles that look shorter than a Twitter conversation?
Just there to get a click and maybe a couple ads in. Surprisingly standard now when looking for news.
Any longer and it might mention the rail strike.
Biden actually got the rail workers everything they asked for months after the strike ended. I had no idea about this until recently so figured I’d share.
https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/23Daily/2306/230620_IBEWandPaid
Holy fuck, stop repeating this bullshit people. The IBEW voted for the original contract with 1 sick day. They’re a small part of the railworkers and weren’t one that wanted to strike in the first place. And they absolutely did not get everything they wanted. They wanted 15 days! Congress tried to give them 7! Biden got them 4. Nevermind the non-sick day asks.
Unions deserve the right to accept or reject their own contracts, not wait for a third party to decide what’s reasonable.
Here’s an article where strike leader Tony Cardwell, President of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way of Employee’s division, explains that 4 sick days was the lowest offer they were willing to accept. I wish Biden did things differently in general, and they have every right to be unhappy and to push for further change, but Biden did actually work with them to get the minimum they wanted.
The minimum is not exactly worth an endearing compliment, though. But the situation is more complicated than just that Biden fucked over unions.
Biden actually got the rail workers everything they asked for
Everything?
You think 4 sick days a year is “everything they asked for”? Really?
It’s most of what they asked for, actually, which is a sad indictment of the initial state of affairs
They wanted 7.
https://www.fairwork.gov.au/employment-conditions/national-employment-standards#nes-entitlements
Welcome to somewhere between Europe and Murica
(TLDR 20 days annual leave, 10 days sick and 10 days emergency domestic violence leave, unpaid community service leave. :( )
Didn’t anti-union Biden fuck over the rail workers?
https://crooksandliars.com/2023/06/sick-days-biden-administration-gets-it
You’re believing a narrative agenda in this case, as the media tried to hide this fact because they don’t want a pro-union guy in office. They want all the union people to think he’s an enemy so you don’t vote.
The Biden admin got it done for ALL 4 major railways too!
Thanks for posting, I still believed the top comment
No problem no problem
After delegitimizing strikes (in the US) universally, Biden got them 4 days (instead of 15) and failed to address any other grievances of the workers. I wouldn’t say that equation balances out, exactly.
Dont believe, its not accurate.
I’m saving this link. Cause the few times I’ve mentioned it I’ve been crucified for being a “librul” by supposed communists. Like he isn’t my favorite, but credit is due here. He avoided the shutdown, and then got them what they wanted. He did it that way to avoid a shutdown. I don’t see the negative here.
He avoided the shutdown
I’m not a communist, but that’s carefully worded bullshit for “broke a strike”. Credit is absolutely due for his walking with the UAW now, but the only credit due for the railworkers is bad credit. He didn’t get them what they wanted, he got them some of what he wanted, and worker power isn’t about other people getting you things, it’s about being able to demand them for yourself.
I mean hes center-right. He wasn’t really worried about the workers he was worried about Christmas shopping. I believe workers shouldn’t be limited to the amount of times they can somehow not catch microscopic diseases. Idk if anybody is able to give the workers what they want. I think the politicians are too afraid countries will flee over seas or quit operations if it isnt profitable.
the only credit due for the railworkers is bad credit.
Leftists: did you get us everything we want, immediately and without reservation?
Liberals: no but I got a lot and I’m working towards–
Leftists: FUCK YOU GO DIE IN A FIRE I’M VOTING FOR LITERAL FASCISM NOW
Sure man. I’m not a leftist and I’m a reliable (albeit meaningless) vote for Biden, but keep telling yourself that being strongly pro-labor means people are voting for Republicans. Pretending bad things are good doesn’t actually work. Biden was bad in the rail strike and he’s better now. Hopefully going forward his (and others’) support for labor will be unwavering.
I hate how nuance goes out the window in these discussions sometimes. I’d rate Biden’s actions on the rail strike as “lukewarm”. Think about it from a moderate perspective. It makes sense to avoid a rail shutdown, because that would cause a lot of harm to a lot of people, working class and otherwise. Biden wants to make sure the economy keeps moving so people can keep making money. This is his best shot at “harm reduction”, and he did more than was expected of him. That’s the point. I can’t imagine having to be in that position to try and make these decisions to make everyone happy. And, for what it’s worth, 4-7 paid sick days (dependent on the employer) is pretty standard for most jobs in the US. I’d say that while this was pretty lukewarm, it’s still overall a good thing and could lay the rails so to speak for future improvements as well.
Think about it from a moderate perspective.
Why? “You can’t force people to work” isn’t a position to compromise on. He didn’t have to please everyone, he only had to stick up for the inherent rights of workers. I don’t have any right to tell you to work, even if you not working would harm me. It’s not a position you need to compromise with me on. It’s entirely right and good for at least one party to unequivocally side with labor.
And if a strike is just unacceptable, force the labor-friendly contract and then nationalize the railroads. People act like it was the workers against the economy when the whole issue came about because a private for-profit entity wasn’t willing to give them sick days. There were two parties that could have been made to sacrifice for the greater good, but for some reason people think the only option was screwing the workers.
And, for what it’s worth, 4-7 paid sick days (dependent on the employer) is pretty standard for most jobs in the US.
“Well X job also gets 4” is irrelevant. Some jobs are less safety critical so an employee working sick won’t endanger others and other jobs should be striking for more. It’s to the workers themselves to decide what a reasonable contract is.
…it’s still overall a good thing and could lay the rails so to speak for future improvements as well.
Except breaking a strike means the employers don’t need to fear one as much in future negotiations. The likelihood of Congressional intervention was reportedly a factor in their willingness to take a demand of 15 days and counter with 1. Next time around they’ll be even more confident that they don’t need to listen to worker demands. Establishing a “too big to strike” norm means their unions are kind of just for show, because work stoppages are the primary tool unions have to negotiate.
No no no no… you can say that about legislation. You cannot say it about forcing them to end a strike then getting them crumbs as a consolation.
They weren’t asking the government to ‘get’ them anything. They were striking and demanding it themselves. The only fucking response from liberals in that case SHOULD have been to stay the fuck out of it so the workers can get things on their terms.
Semantics. The point is that “good” isn’t good enough for leftists, and anything that isn’t good enough is Bad
Online communists frequently let perfect be the enemy of the good. Many of the people yelling at you online (not all!) have never participated in any form of boots-on-the-ground activism, never done mutual aid, never attended a protest. Given that a solid majority of these people who get very loud online are slacktivists, I wouldn’t worry too much about what people say online. Go out there, do real praxis, and advocate for what’s right.
He got them some, broke the strike, and then got the rest after.
He did not, they wanted 15 days, he got them 4. Congressional Democrats tried to get them 7. Don’t make provably false assertions. The UAW stuff is great, but blowing smoke up people’s asses about how the rail strike breaking was actually no big deal is much worse than just acknowledging it and saying Biden is doing better now.
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The negative is that the union wasn’t allowed to show its power, and actually had its power reduced by this. They shouldn’t need a savior to come in and do it for them, they should be able to advocate for themselves and get it done themselves, showing the working class our power.
That said, this is a good compromise which works better for more people, in this case.
I do wish they didn’t need a savior. Shit we need a Laborers party here more than ever. What would be required to truly bend these companies, though? They are so massive, and the government appears to be on their side more often than not. We would almost need a general strike to get everything we wanted. Which 17 fucken sick days ain’t shit. Some peopoe wipe that out just with the changing of the seasons and its not fair. You don’t control when you are sick.
sweats in 18 PTO days per year for sick or otherwise
Fuck that, reading that makes me want to riot.
The only way we’re going to change it is with unions. I work in tech. There are no unions in tech. It just simply does not happen much. I tried to unionize my workplace and was met with such severe apathy I only got 8 out of 50 people on board.
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That pressure, plus the IBEW’s ongoing efforts, is paying off at last. The IBEW and BNSF Railway reached an agreement April 20 to grant members four short-notice, paid sick days, with the ability to also convert up to three personal days to sick days. The union reached similar understandings with CSX and Union Pacific on March 22, and with Norfolk Southern on March 10. Unused sick time at the end of a year can be paid out or rolled into a worker’s 401(k) retirement account.
Wow he got them 4 whole sick days!
They were demanding 15 days.
Fuck anti-union Biden.
Are you sure about that? I’m pretty sure they were specifically demanding 4 sick days. You should provide a source for your claim.
Yes, I am sure.
But the deal excludes a measure, eagerly sought by the unions, that would add 15 days of paid sick leave per year.
Thank you! That is indeed shitty. I’d say it’s a bit short of an L though, and I hope Biden’s recent actions show that he’s being more serious about workers’ rights. His NLRB has been doing a lot lately.
From what other people have posted when I asked about this in the past, it appears that it was a short-term stop, and they actually continued to negotiate and got results at a later time.
Yes, but you’ll get defenders who believed the asshole union rep that was against the strike in the first place saying he came through.
He didn’t. They didn’t get what they wanted, they got terms that had already been rejected by the majority and many of them still don’t have sick days despite the misleading headlines saying otherwise.
K well dudes posted a link with evidenxe of them getting the sick days. Since I’ve been yanked back and forth so hard on this. Can you post where you found that this isn’t what they wanted and the administration did leave them to the corps? Genuinely want to know the truth.
Also, sick days are far from the only problem worth striking for. Workers threatened to strike over that points system, but the railway sued them over that and won, so they’re not “allowed” to strike over that now. Bet they would’ve appreciated Biden working for them with that, but I guess it wasn’t an issue for him.
I agree we should all be having a general strike. And tbh they should strike over not allowed being able to strike cause thats immoral as fuck. I’m just saying he didn’t have to follow up for shit and he did.
Tbh, that’s an extraordinarily low bar, and does little to nothing to make up for breaking the strike in the first place, imo.
Its a high bar for any capitalist. Thats what our politicians are.
They were asking for 15. They would have been happy with 7. They were given 4.
