I ain’t a Joe Biden fanboy, but I would like to say if Bernie got elected president and he did this then the streets would go wild. This is insanely (good) that a president is showing so much solidarity and support to striking workers. This gets eyes and ears about the UAW strike, people see this support, they become emboldened, and now start thinking, “Hey, maybe we should strike or unionize…”
This is such a huge win for America and leftism in general. Let’s Go Dark Brandon
Yes, he stopped the train strike. He then worked with the rail unions for weeks negotiating with the bosses and now the rail workers have the sick days that was one of the big drivers of them going on strike for. Here’s the statement straight from the IBEW.
They literally thank Biden’s administration directly for applying pressure in the weeks after blocking the strike that eventually led to the union getting what it was asking for. I’m no big fan of Biden’s, but trying to paint him as anti labor especially using him blocking the rail strike is just patently untrue. With everything that’s been happening around Biden’s NLRB under Lina Khan he is easily the most pro worker president we’ve had in decades.
Unfortunately he followed the law. The Railway Labor Act of 1926 prevents railroad workers from striking. They instead have to follow the exact process that was followed and continue working while in negotiation. As a rail worker, to go on strike is to quit your job.
Edit: After rereading, the RLA 1926 will allow for “self-help” remedies after a minimum of 60 days have elapsed from the time the National Mediation Board begins it’s process. This allows 30 days of NMB mediation, followed by 30 days for a Presidential Emergency Board investigation, either of which can be extended and with the caveat that
The NMB can keep the parties in mediation indefinitely, so long as it feels there is a reasonable prospect for settlement.
Yeah, labor protections in the US are long past due for an upgrade, and if they can’t strike then the process needs to be weighted in the workers favor a lot more.
Very true. I see Biden as just another neoliberal capitalist, but tbh this is very good to see. Unions are great for society and the working class, and to see a president openly support this is great to see.
it is election year so throwing people a bunch of hope that you actually care definitley will win votes biden spent four years ignoring campaign promises such as voting reform still am unable to vote as are a lot of others
why not choose a different colors and letters besides red and blue and r and d why do we as citizens allow such crap choices
biden will throw some good will around and just like trump did with his followers only during election time
Imagine trump joining a picket line. He’d be lining up an armed security force to protect scabs, and giving a speech about how unamerican the strikers are, how they’re anti-capitalism and thus anti-democracy.
Unless I misunderstand this, it’s also true that it is now against the law for a railroad worker to strike, and it will stay that way until/unless repealed. Unless something changes, that’s the last raise they can realistically ever get now that they are banned from using their only real lever of power.
Happily, this is a misunderstanding. The block on striking was short and temporary, essentially until the agreement was either accepted or rejected as a whole. The Railway Labor Act is still in effect, but it's been in effect for almost a century now, so that's nothing that's new or changed.
If the unions wanted to take up arms and get people riled up again, there's nothing stopping them from threatening another strike, except for the motivation (and material conditions) of their own members.
I read this article but didn’t see, mind helping me get clarity?
What I read from the article is that the companies wouldn’t give in to the unions’ demands, Biden forced the unions to keep working but then kept pushing(?) for the demands of the unions’.
What powers does the president have to force / encourage the rail companies to adopt the demands of the unions? How did Biden keep pushing? What does pushing mean in this context?
I am surmising that he put pressure on the companies by constantly talking to them and being a type of mediator. I wish the article gave details, but it is so hard to find anything on this. Everything that is Googled is just about congress stopping the strike and not this.
I wish I knew more as well, but I am satisfied that the railworkers are sated and are talking well about Biden and his admin.
The rail strike affected the supply chain, it wasn’t just a straight up workers vs. the company kind of thing. A lot of collateral damage to consider downstream. And he hardly fucked them over. He forced a deal that was likely how it would’ve worked out anyway.
Biden has done more for unions than any President in history. That just doesn’t fit with the doomer narrative though.
I find hope in workers being treated well and not needing to strike. I also find hope in there being food on the shelves at my grocery stores.
Wanting things to be bad enough to necessitate labor actions like striking is doomer thinking.
Starting with the assumption that things are so bad everything needs to be destroyed so everything can be rebuilt is doomer thinking. Sure there are times that strikes are necessary and we should support them when they are, but making the assumption that everything is bad isn’t all that healthy.
And? The point of strikes are to put pressure on the employers because they haven’t responded to workers demands. If they aren’t going to pay a wage worth the work or benefits like employees being able to spend time with their families or take sick leave, they aren’t entitled to the workers time, or labors.
And the knock on effects like let’s say… not being able to get your groceries sucks for you in the here and now, the benefits of not having LITERAL TOXIC WASTE DUMPED ONTO SMALL TOWNS AND CATCH ON FUCKING FIRE because the railworkers aren’t well rested, or inspections/maintenance haven’t been being properly done kind outweighs you being able to get your bag of Doritos and two liter of Mountain Dew. Oh and it also adds more pressure to the rail companies to come back to the negotiating table.
What should have happened here is that Biden should have pressured the companies to resolve the strike as quickly as possible.
Workers generally don’t like striking. Not getting paid sucks. It’s really the only lever of power they have in a lot of cases though.
Banning their ability to strike means that the only options they have left are to suck up whatever awful conditions they have or quit. Quitting en mass would do the same damage you’re talking about, but far more permanently.
He did. The companies were forced to accept Biden’s deal just as much as the union was forced to accept the deal. It’s just being characterized as Biden forcing the union to accept in the narratives you’re consuming.
Not sure if we should start lining up to blow him quite yet about this kind of issue. But I’m not familiar enough to fully comment. I’m sure lemmings will line up to tell me why I’m wrong about this…
I’ve found lemmy to be the single most toxic malicious place on the internet I’ve ever been and every time I post I literally cringe waiting for the horde to attack. I’m probably closing my account soon tbh because I can’t take it anymore. For the record I like being wrong because it means I’m about to learn something new. But around here I was expecting fifty downvotes and a bunch of replies saying FUCK YOU CORPORATE BOOTLICKER SCUM, words to that effect.
He didn’t do well with the rail strikers but I guess he’s trying to redeem himself. But I prefer that over a President who’s consistently against labor, like any Republican one would be.
Some other union member mentioned either in here or another thread that the IBEW is only one of 13 rail unions, and they’re one of the most conservative ones, preferring lobbying Democrats over striking or using actual worker power. Their union officials also tried making deals earlier that the rest of their members rejected and didn’t like, which they hinted at but seem to be down playing a lot in this statement naturally. That commenter said the Rail Workers United statement, which is a coalition of rank-and-file workers from among all the unions, has been a lot more scathing towards the White House’s interference in the strike and negotiations even after they helped get them some sick leave.
Separately, it’s not good that we set the precedent that power comes not from workers, but from up on high to be doled out at our rulers’ whim. What happens when we get a conservative President next? They’ll destroy the strike and we all just collectively shrug? People need to learn that power comes from numbers, a popular mandate, and withholding labor, not from back room deals secretly negotiated by higher up union officials, CEOs, and the President. Letting these actions continue builds relationships, trust, and solidarity among the workers that is important for future labor action.
There were a lot of external concerns with a strike too. The delays would have left some municipalities without water purification supplies. Delays in coal and gas would mean no electricity or heating in the middle of December
If he broke the strike just to make sure Christmas deliveries were made on time that would be unconscionable. Concerns over power and heating are more understandable.
Really this just shows this sector is so critical to the economy and our lives that it needs to be nationalized, and the workers deserve their demands as a minimum.
They never mentioned any of that stuff. They would always just gesture broadly at the “economy” which hints at Christmas deliveries.
Really this just shows this sector is so critical to the economy and our lives that it needs to be nationalized, and the workers deserve their demands as a minimum.
It was certainly a concern that came up in articles and such, I remember city municipality workers talking about how their supplies wouldn’t last through delays.
I certainly believe it though that it didn’t come up in the politics, which is really unfortunate. Delays in gas and coal and chemicals aren’t often thought about, and without considering that, breaking the strike is absolutely unacceptable.
I’m glad to see the public become overwhelming in favor of unions. At least partial nationalization should become more viable.
I mean that’s one way to put it, but at the end of the day, he isn’t some manga anti-hero, he is a politician and politicians want to be elected.
I am pretty sure this is about the UAW’s change of attitude that puts immense pressure on Biden, especially that they are withholding their endorsment for Biden until he “earned it”. And of course Trump is also trying to suck up to the unions, so Biden has to step up his game.
You would think so, but then you’ve got some of the GOP candidates who missed that memo. Tim Scott (R-SC), taking his strategy from the ghost of Reagan, has said the strikers should all be fired. And Nikki Haley says that Biden is too pro-union and it’s his fault unions are asking for more than poor, long-suffering auto companies can afford.
A justice he helped put on the bench of the supreme court who just recently was revealed to be taking off the books gifts and bribes from billionaires.
Was coming here to complain about this compared to the rail strike - found out that Biden actually got the rail strikers what they wanted in this thread.
Now I’ve got to complain something else. Hmmm, how about how Biden isn’t proud of his union support. Make noise! Show that unions actually work! Stop acting like unions winning is something is something that you should be ashamed of and hide. Good, still got to complain about something.
Add comment