LEGAL Statement from President Joe Biden on Averting a Rail Shutdown

T

TFergeson

Non Solum Simul Stare

Unions Furious As Biden, Pelosi Push Bill To Avert Rail Strike​

Tyler Durden's Photo

BY TYLER DURDEN
TUESDAY, NOV 29, 2022 - 01:40 PM
Under pressure from President Biden, Speaker Pelosi said that House lawmakers will take up legislation on Wednesday to stop a nationwide strike by railroad workers by imposing a proposed contract that members at four railroad unions had rejected, saying Congress needs to intervene to prevent devastating job losses.
“I don’t like going against the ability of unions to strike, but weighing the equities, we must avoid a strike. Jobs will be lost, even union jobs will be lost, water will not be safe, product will not be going to market,” she said.
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Both sides in the negotiations had agreed to a cooling-off period until Dec. 9 with the sticking points involving work schedules and paid sick time.

As The Wall Street Journal reports, under the Railway Labor Act, Congress can make both sides accept an agreement that their members have voted down.
As you would expect some Democrats are hesitant to bite the hand that feeds them and tell labor unions what to do; and some union leaders have already expressed their ire at the intervention.
“We’ve made it clear we wanted this process to play out, and we even asked Congress not to intervene in this process because by doing that, it takes away any leverage we have with the industry,” said Michael Baldwin, president of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen.
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Michael Paul Lindsey, a locomotive engineer in Idaho and steering committee member for Railroad Workers United, told Insider it was a "blatant betrayal," but he wasn't surprised.
"I thought it was kind of laughable that anyone would think that either the Democrats or the Republicans actually cared. Bottom line, they care about money," he said.
Even so, "there was always that hope in the back of my mind that maybe someone would do something that was actually right for the American worker for once — instead of just what's right for corporate America."
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Republicans have traditionally philosophically-opposed government intervention into private contractual obligations, and Senator Marco Rubio has vociferously defended the workers' rights:
“Just because Congress has the authority to impose a heavy-handed solution does not mean we should,” he said.
“It is wrong for the Biden administration, which has failed to fight for workers, to ask Congress to impose a deal the workers themselves have rejected.”
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We will see tomorrow if Pelosi really does have the votes she claims to pass this bill.

Democrat-Run House Votes To Push Labor Deal Down Railroad Unions' Throats | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
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D

Dozdoats

On TB every waking moment
I read the history of ownership of the occasional transferable machine gun, and a surprising number date from this era.

listverse.com

10 Tragic Times The US Government Massacred Striking Workers - Listverse

Throughout US history, the working class has fought for better wages and working conditions. These struggles often became violent, and it is important to
listverse.com listverse.com

HISTORY | SEPTEMBER 14, 2017
10 Tragic Times The US Government Massacred Striking Workers
by Zachary Rind
/snip

Battle of Blair mountain, 1921, photo gallery

Photographs of the battle of Blair mountain, the largest armed rebellion in the US since the civil war. For five days in late August and early September, 1921 in Logan County, West Virginia, 10,000 striking coal miners battled with armed strikebreakers and federal troops following the killing of...
libcom.org libcom.org
 
Last edited:
N

night driver

ESFP adrift in INTJ sea
I keep coming back and looking at this thing and I don't see ANY WAY for the Union guys to avoid walking out. They KNOW that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. They KNOW that if they give in again and just toddle back to the salt---errr--- coal mines of the RRs, things WILL NOT CHANGE.
They see that they HAVE some leverage, so the THINKING guys know that TODAY's leverage is tomorrow's casket lining if it isn't used WHEN IT SHOWS UP.

I am NORMALLY a FAR FROM onion guy. I support these folks whole heartedly. Inconveniences be DAMNED. I can live with the results. OR not. Do Not Care! GO FOR IT Union.
 
N

night driver

ESFP adrift in INTJ sea
Dozdoats said:
I read the history of ownership of the occasional transferable machine gun, and a surprising number date from this era.

listverse.com

10 Tragic Times The US Government Massacred Striking Workers - Listverse

Throughout US history, the working class has fought for better wages and working conditions. These struggles often became violent, and it is important to
listverse.com listverse.com

HISTORY | SEPTEMBER 14, 2017
10 Tragic Times The US Government Massacred Striking Workers
by Zachary Rind
/snip

Battle of Blair mountain, 1921, photo gallery

Photographs of the battle of Blair mountain, the largest armed rebellion in the US since the civil war. For five days in late August and early September, 1921 in Logan County, West Virginia, 10,000 striking coal miners battled with armed strikebreakers and federal troops following the killing of...
libcom.org libcom.org
Click to expand...
Doz, THIS is what oops was referring to as for history of nasty labor negotiations.

Rather than make folks expand Doz's post:

Battle of Blair mountain, 1921, photo gallery​

Photographs of the battle of Blair mountain, the largest armed rebellion in the US since the civil war. For five days in late August and early September, 1921 in Logan County, West Virginia, 10,000 striking coal miners battled with armed strikebreakers and federal troops following the killing of...
libcom.org
libcom.org
 
bw

bw

Fringe Ranger
energy_wave said:
Now that the mid terms are over, the Demacrats don't need the unions. Biden and Pelosi are giving them the middle finger.
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They don't need their votes, but they could use them anyway. There are any number of opportunities here to sow division, to spark sabotage or false flags, to increase government power, or to leverage a strike to further hammer the public. It could go in any direction.
 
Meadowlark

Meadowlark

Has No Life - Lives on TB
raven said:
How does congress have the power to adopt the unratified agreement . . . when workers have voted NO.

oh right . . . voting again.

(this isn't the United States of America)
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Neither congress or the president can interfere with a disputed contractual agreement. Xiden can however, force the unions back to work in a declared national emergency.
 
oops

oops

Veteran Member
If I can get the few things to fix the porch rail...not goin farther than town til xmas...chuck knows the last hill before the community at the foot of the ridge...2 tressels...n 2 tunnels...less than 200yds apart...n that's just one place place here...could rattle off at least dozen more tressels or tunnels...n no surveillance n open access...sigh...seen enough ugly strikes to have no illusions where this could go...when ya have nothin to lose...sigh...n Gov wantin to force the issues full bore cause they think they can control the outcome and the people...to an extent they can...but at what point does the sayin... "there but by the grace of God go I" come into play...sigh...and how will that affect the outcome and players in all this...
 
Nowski

Nowski

Let's Go Brandon!
If a railroad strike does occur, perhaps some of what goes on
can be heard on a scanner.

I have been checking railroad frequencies on Radio Reference,
and there are a lot, usually based on where the train starts from.

Is there anyone here, who monitors the railroad radio traffic,
and what frequencies are in use?

I have a APCO 25 trunk tracking scanner, computer programmable.

Please be safe everyone.

Regards to all.

Nowski
 
Kris Gandillon

Kris Gandillon

The Other Curmudgeon
_______________
Nowski said:
If a railroad strike does occur, perhaps some of what goes on
can be heard on a scanner.

I have been checking railroad frequencies on Radio Reference,
and there are a lot, usually based on where the train starts from.

Is there anyone here, who monitors the railroad radio traffic,
and what frequencies are in use?

I have a APCO 25 trunk tracking scanner, computer programmable.

Please be safe everyone.

Regards to all.

Nowski
Click to expand...
That assumes you have a way to power your scanner after the lights go out once the coal-fired power plants go offline due to no coal deliveries. Maybe your area has nuke plants or hydro. I doubt the solar and wind farms will be able to keep up.
 
Nowski

Nowski

Let's Go Brandon!
Kris Gandillon said:
That assumes you have a way to power your scanner after the lights go out once the coal-fired power plants go offline due to no coal deliveries. Maybe your area has nuke plants or hydro. I doubt the solar and wind farms will be able to keep up.
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Yep, about 30 miles from Seneca SC, where the Duke Energy
Oconee Power Station is located on Lake Keowee.

Its a 2500 megawatt station, with 3 reactors, one of the biggest
in the ZUSA.

All radios, including scanners, can run off of 12VDC,
I have a good amount of other battery backup,
that should last for awhile.

Currently building another battery pack, using 18650 Li-Io batteries,
which should provide, at least 12 hours non-stop monitoring.

Wiring up the battery holder, and the BMS board to
control the batteries, perhaps by tomorrow.

100 watt solar panel is also available.

Please be safe everyone.

Regards to all.

Nowski

HD.6B.349_(11856013654).jpg
 
oops

oops

Veteran Member
NoDandy said:
Their own salaries & benefits, & retirements. Oops, that's 3 things.
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Hey...for the love of God...don’t blame me for this mess...I get into enough trouble all by myself without ANY help...geese Louise...who needs this mess for help...eyeyeyeye...I’m good...even I ain’t this good...sigh...LOL
 
Countrymouse

Countrymouse

Country exile in the city
Nowski said:
If a railroad strike does occur, perhaps some of what goes on
can be heard on a scanner.

I have been checking railroad frequencies on Radio Reference,
and there are a lot, usually based on where the train starts from.

Is there anyone here, who monitors the railroad radio traffic,
and what frequencies are in use?

I have a APCO 25 trunk tracking scanner, computer programmable.

Please be safe everyone.

Regards to all.

Nowski
Click to expand...
My son is a railfan, and does.

They've been VERY silent....VERY careful....about what they say about this.

There was more chatter a few months ago than there's been now.

"If" he hears anything, for protection of my son's identity and the railworkers', I'll post it on the BS thread on the rail strike.
 
Countrymouse

Countrymouse

Country exile in the city
CapeCMom said:
Just saw on Fox that Bernie Sanders is proposing an amendment to give them their sick time. It has some Republican support so we shall see
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It bugs the heck out of me that it takes an AVOWED SOCIALIST to simply do the RIGHT THING, here! (I see now why my middle son, who is totally cynical about all things political and has the "A pox on BOTH their houses!" attitude toward Repubs as well as Dems, actually likes Bernie).
 
Countrymouse

Countrymouse

Country exile in the city
Reposting here my thoughts about Bai-den's "work order" to RR workers:

uh-huh.

What's that old saw about leading the horse to water............???

Even if they arrest EVERY SINGLE railroad worker who refuses to work---

WHERE are they going to get replacements?

You don't just walk in off the street and drive a train, repair an engine, set a switch, direct yard traffic, run dispatch, schedule logistics ...........
 
Melodi

Melodi

Disaster Cat
Countrymouse said:
Reposting here my thoughts about Bai-den's "work order" to RR workers:

uh-huh.

What's that old saw about leading the horse to water............???

Even if they arrest EVERY SINGLE railroad worker who refuses to work---

WHERE are they going to get replacements?

You don't just walk in off the street and drive a train, repair an engine, set a switch, direct yard traffic, run dispatch, schedule logistics ...........
Click to expand...
Like I said before, it worked with the air traffic controllers so it gives both many in the government and the public the illusion that they can do it again. The differences are that the military had lots of air traffic controllers that could be given emergency orders to man the civilian airports until new controllers could be trained. I had a friend from college that took the training offer and was working within a year.

Oh, and people also forget (or are too young to remember) that most of the Air Traffic Controllers' strike was not about pay but about working conditions, and within five years the new controllers were pointing out the same safety issues concerning staffing hours, a number of controllers, and mandatory overtime. It wasn't until there were several incidents of overworked, sleep-deprived controllers (sometimes working alone) not so much falling asleep but passing out from exhaustion on the job that things started to change.

In any case, if all the railroad workers simply refused to go to work, the way most of the air traffic controllers did; then yes they can legally fire all of them but there is NO ONE to take their place. You can't just call out the military to "make the trains run on time," and if they tried it there would still be weeks of the shutdown while service men and women were trained to do unfamiliar jobs. There are not enough trucks in all of North America to replace everything that is moved about by rail, even if every single military person and trucking company were assigned or paid by the government to do so. Not everything can even be moved by rail, and with all the problems with river shipping this year, I wouldn't count on that either.
 
Sacajawea

Sacajawea

Has No Life - Lives on TB
vector7 said:
BIDEN: "10 years ago, how many of you knew what the hell a supply chain was? No, I'm serious!"

White House in the process of changing the definition of supply chain
RT 05secs
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1597705357295435776
View: https://twitter.com/MJL0807/status/1597705357295435776?s=20&t=50nixdDCRYa97z_vb0Fqng
Click to expand...

OH HELL NO. Enough!!!! with letting them try to redefine things. And for his information, a whole damn LOT OF US knew what a supply chain was in 2012. After all, the earthquake in Japan (and resulting tsunami) had disrupted the supply chain for certain Japanese products. Already.

Twunt.
 
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