307
Who's really important
(reddthat.com)
"So anyways that's why I've decided it's illegal for you to strike"
Yep. Biden is antiunion and it's disappointing to see this posted here.
Lol exactly. What a fucking joke.
Didn't Biden sign a law forcing an entire sector into a labor contract that was rejected by all the unions?
After the railroad workers were forced to end their strike, the Biden administration and the union continued working on the problem and on April 20 the workers got the sick day agreement they demanded. It's not like they were just dropped by the administration. While I do grant that breaking the strike was not great, it's not as if that was the end of the story.
Oh cool, he threw them some scraps after breaking the strike. What a fantastic win for labor power.
The railroads don't agree, bot I don't really know about it
That article is older than the recent agreement that got the sick days. So sentiments may not be the same.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/01/railroad-workers-union-win-sick-leave
They'd of got a lot more if they were able to strike. A strike is the biggest tool unions have to leverage. They might of got a better deal without even having to strike. The lack of the possibility ruined their chances of getting anything better. I wish they'd done some kind of slowdown or walk out anyway.
Fortunately, as several other commenters point out, that wasn’t the end of the story.
load more comments
(23 replies)
That's a great statement. Too bad his actions don't back up his words.
While it is a good thing they're afforded 4 or 5 sick days and the right to use accrued leave for 2 or 3 days when sick, the end result is a much reduced contract that only really came about from public pressure at large.
The unions asked for two weeks before the Biden administration broke their right to strike. It is highly probable and apparent the companies could have afforded the two weeks to its workers.
Greatly reducing the union's negotiating power is the ultimate legacy of the Biden administration's decision here, nonetheless.
Do you believe the union thought they would get 2 weeks, or did they start with that knowing they'd need to bargain down? I seriously wonder if they could have gotten 4+3 if they'd kept the strike up.
Also keep in mind, no one wants to strike. It's a means to an end. Striking is pretty devastating for the workers and their families.
I think when you're negotiating a contract and a critical means to an end is prohibited, it compromises the negotiations. Like I said, it appears the rail companies made enough to afford it.
Rail workers didn't go on strike so there wasn't a strike to have kept up. The union and the rail companies were in negotiations. The companies refused to bargain and asked the Biden administration to intervene and Biden obliged.
So the question is then: would the rail companies have negotiated any differently or bargained in good faith if they faced actual consequences? I think it is very obvious they would have been forced to concede to the union a very basic and reasonable contract provision.
They should strike. Grind it to a halt. Destroy the corrupt economy and rebuild it from the ground up.
Judge him by his actions, not his words.
His actions have spoken pretty loudly, and they don’t align much at all with the words presented here.
Be a lot cooler if he did something that aligned with this instead of just talking a big game. I lost so much respect for his administration when they killed the rail strike. Legislatively stopping a strike is about the most undemocratic corporate bullshit I can think of the more labor sided/left leaning party in a country doing. Neo liberalism is not on the side of organized labor no matter what they say.
The guy who told factory workers he doesn't work for them still lies to our faces about having our best interests in mind.
That wasn’t what happened. Someone was spouting off about how Biden wanted to take everyone’s guns after seeing a manipulated video then threw out the ”I pay your salary, you work for me” line that every jackass like to throw at public employees like police or people just doing their job at the DMV.
Nah, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to say that to politicians. They’re supposed to be public servants and they need to be reminded of that as often as possible.
And yes he absolutely SHOULD be working for factory workers. Don’t be such a cuck to these people. They’re supposed to be serving you, and they aren’t, and they don’t even pretend to be, and you’re allowed to be angry about it.
It’s not “reasonable” to say that to anyone, by the time you’ve said it you’ve given up on actively communicating. It serves no purpose to make progress on an issue, it’s really just an adult temper tantrum retort. The second part of your comment makes no sense in the context of the actual situation, you might as well just be regurgitating AI text with that sort of CHAD GPT level comprehension.
Just like when he ordered striking train workers to return to work after several derailments occurred
The train workers were striking primarily over wanting sick days. They got them on April 20, in part due to the Biden administration's continued efforts.
This was a pleasant surprise. I remember being highly disappointed in AOC when she voted to end the strike. She insisted that the Biden administration would stay focused on the sick day issue. I thought it was just political bullshit, and she was merely covering herself.
I was very happy when I found out that instead of caving in and becoming just another corrupt politician, AOC had actually been TELLING THE TRUTH!
Biden has accomplished more in his time in office than Trump could have dreamed to. But that doesn’t make him a good president. He shut down a rail strike and told those people they don’t matter by forcing them back without rail companies meeting their demands. This is just classic “I support you” campaigning speak. He doesn’t really care
True, but from what I read not too long ago, they did finally get their vacation time, because apparently despite ending the strike, they kept working on the problem. I'm never sure how good or bad he is because he really doesn't toot his own horn, getting rail workers their vacation time was basically a back page article.
this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2023
307 points (90.7% liked)
unions
1702 readers
72 users here now
a community focused on union news, info, discussion, etc
Friends:
- https://lemmy.ml/c/labor
- https://sh.itjust.works/c/unions
- https://lemmy.ml/c/coops
- https://lemmy.ml/c/antitrust
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS