Biden looks to Congress to force deal on railroad workers

[jojoju1998]

I thought Railroad workers already had some type of PTO.

But i was wrong.

[jojoju1998]

I thought Railroad workers already had some type of PTO.

But i was wrong.

The US is one of the few countries in the world without mandated PTO, without mandated parental leave, and apparently the only country with at will employment.

Yeah but many large companies already offer parental, PTO, sick leave, et cetera. Because they realize that it's better to offer these benefits than to be left behind economically.

Hence, my surprise that these railroads don't offer it. Even smaller companies ( although they don't have sick leave, parental leave ), do offer a combined PTO which acts as a vacation, sick, leave pot.

Hell Netflix has unlimited leave.

[jojoju1998]

I thought Railroad workers already had some type of PTO.

But i was wrong.

The US is one of the few countries in the world without mandated PTO, without mandated parental leave, and apparently the only country with at will employment.

Yeah but many large companies already offer parental, PTO, sick leave, et cetera. Because they realize that it's better to offer these benefits than to be left behind economically.

Hence, my surprise that these railroads don't offer it. Even smaller companies ( although they don't have sick leave, parental leave ), do offer a combined PTO which acts as a vacation, sick, leave pot.

Hell Netflix has unlimited leave.

I've heard "unlimited" PTO can be a trap if they don't usually approve it.

I do think that not having sick leave is a anomaly, especially among federal contractors.

Northrup Grumman has paid sick leave.

[jojoju1998]

what I find bit surprising is why are these railroad companies hesitating to grant 4 paid sick leaves when they already agreed for 24% pay raise ? Are 4 paid sick leaves much more costly than the pay raise for these companies ?

Apparently, from what I read, the Unions forwent sick leave in the past for drastic pay raises.

[jojoju1998]

https://twitter.com/marcorubio/status/1597620780816531458

Based Rubio ?

[jojoju1998]

Bad! Hopefully the Congress imposes the paid leave in the deal. Otherwise very bad!

I'll clarify here that I totally agree that a rail-strike would be catastrophic. But a refusal to allow just 7 days of paid sick leave is shocking intransigence for some of the America's most important and hard working laborers (reflects horribly on management). Congress has the power to implement this and should, if they don't, I understand why they would choose to strike and they are well within their rights to do so, though that's not a decision anyone should take lightly.

Then the unions shoudn't have given up the barganing chip regarding paid sick leave in their past negotiations.

[jojoju1998]

It's a lose lose situation in my view.

You don't do anything, the strike happens, the economy goes into a tailspin, and the workers and Union gets blamed ( And that's the truth ).

Or, Biden stops the potential strike, And the workers have to accept a 1 star buffet deal. They also lose in this scenario.

Because either way, the companies are not going to budge on the sick leave, for many reasons ( even though most federal contractors, and the federal government itself have some kind of sick leave so.... ).

[jojoju1998]

Can someone clarify this for me ?

I thought that the Railroad Industry is essentially private, ( and if they were government owned, then workers would have paid sick leave autotmatically under Federal law).

So then why is Congress passing a bill for them ? I'm confused on that part.

[jojoju1998]

Worst move of Biden’s presidency by far.

Yes, definitely Biden's fault that only 6 Republicans in the senate and 3 Republicans in the House could be bothered to vote to give workers 7 days of sick leave. Definitely Bidens fault!

This is the GOP's fault. Full stop.

Biden is the one who rammed through a railroad agreement while betraying workers. So yes it is his fault.

To prevent a cataclysmic strike that would've been horrific for this country. I'm all for workers rights, but unfortunately something had to give here. The alternative would've been disastrous. Do not get high and mighty here.

Again, maybe if the Republicans could've offered more than 3 house votes and 6 senate votes to a 7-day sick day leave agreement - which is not in any way shape or form asking for a lot - all of this *COULD* have been averted! So who is really to blame right now? The party who tried to do something, or the party who actively worked against the workers and made sure they did not get what they wanted? Give me a break.

It’s not a binary choice either. Biden could have nationalized the railroads like Wilson did temporarily AFAIK and accepted their contract.

Wilson did so under the argument that he had War powers during WW1.

[jojoju1998]

Every American should have a right to paid sick leave. It's disgusting that the US remains one of the few countries in the world without such a right.

Not Federally. But 15 States have some type of sick leave mandate. 79 percent of workers according to BLS have paid sick leave, the exception I guess, are smaller companies or anomalies like the railroads.

[jojoju1998]

The Democrats are not a labor party anymore. They are an upscale liberal party.

We have gone back to the days of bourbon democracy, so enjoy the lip service and occasional trinkets they throw your way and don't be surprised if they also expect you to be grateful for it also.

To be honest, historically speaking, the US has never had a truly labor party like the UK Labour, or the the Social Democratic party of Germany.

[jojoju1998]

Ok I dont get why do many people are mad, the workers will still get a 24% pay raise which is huge. Congress made the right decision here

Do you know what it is like to be on one of those damn trains?

They run their people ragged, all in the name of optimal efficiency. In part, because we as a country screw the railroads over on taxation, meanwhile subsidize their grossly inefficient competitors with endless amounts of government spending. 

Trains are the most efficient way to haul freight around, because of scale and because of rolling resistance.

There is no way these establishment neoliberals who work in nice offices and wonder "they are getting 24% increase, why don't they shut up and be happy", could ever know what it is like to be run mentally ragged, or deal with the PTSD if God forbid they hit someone.

I am not saying its not tough but the question is that a strike should have been avoided at all purposes. Like I am not sure if it was possible to do what JoJu said here which was congress amend the deal to say reduce the pay increase to 15% but add in the 7 paid sick days but I think the people clearly to blame here were the unions not Congress.

the Union put both their Workers and our economy in a precarious situation and I am not really sure what could have been done at this page

Unions and the Companies.

Both. The Companies refused to invest in the well being of their employees. And the Unions were too short sighted to see that drastic pay raises are kind of useless.

[jojoju1998]

When did Gillibrand and Hickenlooper start voting with Sanders, Warren, and Merkley?

Gillibrand has been doing it for a while, at least since the beginning of the Trump administration. Hickenlooper is much more of a surprise.

 Gillibrand has been pushing for Universal Paid leave of some kind for years now. So this is right up her alley.

Same thing with Hickenlooper.

[jojoju1998]

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/most-unionized-us-rail-workers-now-have-new-sick-leave-2023-06-05/



I've got to share this.