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    • NewLeaf@hexbear.netEnglish
      9·
      10 months ago

      biden-point the economy is good, jack! Who are you gonna believe, me or your lying wallet and bank account?

  • NewLeaf@hexbear.netEnglish
    20·
    10 months ago

    That’s all they do when talking about the train derailments.

    “Won’t somebody think of the economy!” Is their answer to “Biden should have let them strike”. They are too worried about treatus interruptus

    • Maoo [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
      9·
      10 months ago

      The bourgeoisie want the public to think of themselves as inconvenienced consumers rather than fellow workers in a mutual struggle. The corporate media and liberal politicians gladly repeat the line.

  • cynetri (he/any)@midwest.socialEnglish
    18·
    10 months ago

    My immediate family works on the railroad and it’s always funny (in a depressing way) seeing people’s shit takes about the broken strike

  • loathesome dongeater@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    11·
    10 months ago

    Is it true as they are saying that Biden got them the sick paid leave that they were striking for? I hardly believe it but I am out of the loop.

    • footfaults [none/use name]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      50·
      10 months ago

      Paid sick leave was not the primary issue. The primary issue that the unions were striking about is “precision rail scheduling” which basically has rail workers on a 24/7 on call. They have no time off, and failing to answer a midnight or 4 am call to go to a train and drive it costs you your job. One of the reasons workers wouldn’t answer a call was because they were sick, and had no sick days.

      So, the main issue has not been resolved and the strike was broken before it even started, and this sick day thing is just a small concession that Biden got the rail companies to give

      • Adkml [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
        13·
        10 months ago

        As others have said that wasn’t rhe main point of contention.

        After continuing to negotiate for mo ths with zero support from Biden some of the rail workers got some days off.

        Or, as libs will shriek at you if you criticize Biden, Biden personally got every rail worker exactly what they asked for proving they didn’t have to strike in the first place.

    • Tomboys_are_Cute [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      29·
      10 months ago

      He did get the rail workers sick days but that wasn’t the only thing they were striking for. Rail workers went from 0 to 8 sick days per year (they don’t carry over if unused) which is paltry and ignores some of the other many problems with the rail industry.

      #1 Work:Life ratio: the average rail worker is on what is known as the extra board where all the non-scheduled trains go. This system effectively makes them on-call but doesn’t give the pay on-call should give due to problem number 2.

      #2: Poor (or non) scheduling: The US Railroad companies like to tout “Precision Scheduled Railroading,” their system that allegedly allows for more precise schedules. To quote a podcast thats popular here, “its neither precision, nor scheduled, nor railroading.” Train companies create schedules that they can’t keep with trains twice the length of what one train can handle but 3 can mostly do it without blowing up a small town (with one crew controlling all three of them), and then put all the late trains from the previous scheduling problems on the extra board. Then as a bonus they can reprimand crews for not making the impossible timetable. This is a process that is currently eating crews and is still getting worse.

      #3 Non-investment: you cannot buy a new overhead electric rail freight locomotive in America, even if you wanted to you can only buy battery ones which are less efficient than diesel (when you consider America’s power supply, natural gas). Rail yards for sorting cars are only designed to handle the old 70ish car length trains instead of the current 150 monster train configurations and some of them are expensive to make bigger, some of them are literally impossible to make bigger because of the stuff around them. There has been virtually no investments in rail infrastructure so Amtrack trains are still sharing tracks with these random monster trains, forcing the Amtrack trains onto sidings to wait while they pass despite congressional mandates against that because the monster trains don’t fit in the sidings anymore. This problem is deep and short of complete nationalisation will not be solved because being this cheap is profitable.

      Additional listening: Work Stoppage on the Rail Strike and the Labour angle from the time, Well There’s Your Problem: American Rail Freight.

  • iie [they/them, he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    5·
    10 months ago

    I think more than anything the Biden administration wanted to avoid the optics of a national rail strike successfully using their leverage to force gains. It would be too powerful an example, because that’s potentially a lot of fucking leverage, being able to shut down the rail networks. This was all about maintaining the illusion of powerlessness.

    • footfaults [none/use name]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      5·
      10 months ago

      that is possible, but I feel like the Biden administration is just trying desperately to keep a lid on things, and having a strike would have made them really hurt politically, so they just stopped it from happening. No long term planning, no long game, just reacting to events as they happen