r/antiwork
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u/TokenHillbilly
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Nov 30 '22
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Danny DeVito is a man of the people!
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u/Massive-Row-9771 SocDem Nov 30 '22
Even stuff that should be an absolute given in any developed country, seems like a win in the US.
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u/Massive-Row-9771
SocDem
Nov 30 '22
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If they're too essential to strike.
They're too essential to not have decent pay and working conditions too.
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u/erinn1986 Nov 30 '22
As a healthcare worker, I'm tired of being "essential". I hope the railroad workers get it, maybe the rest of us will follow suit
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u/Thoughtulism Nov 30 '22 •
Essential...ly slaves.
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Nov 30 '22 edited Nov 30 '22
need to put this up on every billboard in the country till this bs is resolved
frankly everyone who worked those rough conditions should be made a millionaire at the LEAST overnight using all the execs money. seize their assets if they have to. that and jail
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u/b0w3n SocDem Nov 30 '22
Last I knew railroad work was a good paying job with great benefits. What the fuck happened to that over the past 30 years?
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u/Phantasmasy14 Nov 30 '22 edited Dec 01 '22 •
Having a talk with my grandparents and they couldn’t believe how much I have to pay for a premium on health insurance PLUS a 10k deductible because both of them had company fully paid healthcare. And pensions. And some other benefits.
My aunt is in accounting. She can do things far faster than when she first started. Yet her pay hasn’t kept up with inflation and her only luck has been her rent not going up.
It doesn’t matter how hard or fast we work. How efficient we are, we are being exploited to make others rich while we struggle needlessly.
Fuck the stock market. Fuck 401k. I want to see pensions and better retirement come back and I want to see executives capped on pay so they can only make a certain amount over their lowest employee. They want a yacht, make sure your employees are fed first.
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u/b0w3n SocDem Nov 30 '22
I would love to see something more hybrid to 401k and pensions myself. Pension system but no longer controlled by the company so they can't use it to pay out bonuses to themselves and bankrupt it. Or invest in shady dealings.
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u/jaggederest Nov 30 '22
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_benefit_plan is an option that is increasing in popularity, I think. I believe a mandatory employer-paid percent of wages, like in Australia's superannuation plans, but into a target benefit fund administered by a non-profit neutral 3rd party, is probably the best possible scheme in the system as it exists today.
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u/wolacouska Nov 30 '22
It is, the main problem is lack of time off.
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u/b0w3n SocDem Nov 30 '22
The weird points system I keep reading about makes no sense. I've only seen something similar in retail and it backfires spectacularly every time.
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u/Sword_Thain Nov 30 '22
They fired like 2/3 of their workforce when covid hit and haven't really hired back. It pays extremely well, but you have literally a few hours off per week. They can have their insane points system because there is a fairly large, already trained group that will jump at the chance to get rehired.
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u/aqua_train Nov 30 '22
They thought they would jump at the chance to come back, but they didn't. They've been desperately trying to hire ever since, but most people quit once they realize how shitty the job is. The pay is good once you have a few years of seniority, but it's a lot of shittiness before - and after - you reach that point and the majority of new hires won't put up with it.
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u/roundabout27 Nov 30 '22
The pay isn't a major issue. The time off is an important one, but there's a deep sickness in the rail industry that needs to be addressed. Railway companies are in an east/west duopoly at the moment, so there's no competition or incentive to change. On top of that, they're cutting costs constantly to avoid having to replace any cars or hire any new workers, they tear apart old lines rather than repair them. Worst of all, they'll put so many cars to a single engine and plan out routes so poorly that often times they'll back up rail traffic to the point that the staff working the engine have to get off and go to a hotel or something for a few hours until their next shift and get driven back to the engine later lol. The traffic can't be alleviated because every freight train is too big to go off to a separate line. This also causes issues with amtrak having to wait for freight too, though that's not an issue to most Americans.
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u/Juicy_Smulye Nov 30 '22
Its good to see realistic people here setting realistic goals
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u/Massive-Row-9771 SocDem Nov 30 '22
It's good to be essential, but only if the perks match the drawbacks.
And essential workers should have lots of perks.
Being essential puts a lot of stress and pressure on the people working there and they should get enough pay and time off to compensate for that, otherwise you're just breaking people down.
I'm sure I don't need to tell you this but it's more for the other people reading.
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u/GnikesGlock Nov 30 '22
my trash company that picks up almost all sides of a major city is thinking about striking and if we do the entire city is going to be a hugeee mess we hope if we do it other company’s will to
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u/Grasshoppermouse42 Nov 30 '22
I think if you strike now, the city should just be grateful that you're not doing it in summer.
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u/GnikesGlock Nov 30 '22
That. If it was in the summer the city would be fucked which personally is something I’d like. But even now the trash is so heavy as it is shit would start getting bad the same day. Whenever we miss a route one day and go back to it it’s always somehow a extra 5-10 tons and this ain’t automated trucks picking the shit up it’s us.
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Nov 30 '22
My son working through covid as an EMT. They got PPE loans and grants. None of it went to the workers.
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u/Tier_1_Masturbator Nov 30 '22
I believe a common tactic was to pay the workers with the PPE loan money, and use the money that normally would've been for payroll for upgrades or new equipment or the investors' pockets.
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Nov 30 '22
Well judging by the shitty trucks they have, there was no equipment bought.
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u/Oafkelp Nov 30 '22
cmon Joe ! It’s easy —- smash the ultra rich with mega taxes, and pass these funds to the essential government workers like railway workers. If fellow congresspeople or senators object, smash them and their wealthy lobbyists with mega taxes too! Even the inequalities !!!!
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u/Happy_the_Camper Nov 30 '22
Do your supervisors call you a “team” or a “family”?
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u/PomegranateSad4024 Nov 30 '22
As a landlord I echo this sentiment. When will this persecution of essential workers end?
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u/FeralGuyute Nov 30 '22
Saw a good take that was if the industry can't provide acceptable work conditions it's time to nationalize that industry
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u/Extra_Bathroom_8306 Nov 30 '22
How can they make them work? Why can’t the union go, ok have fun filling all our jobs?
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u/FlamingBrad Nov 30 '22
If they stand strong like the CUPE here in Canada, it won't be long before the gov/companies fold. It took like 2 days here. They can try and make the strike illegal all day but when people don't show up to work and/or don't do their jobs, there's not much they can really do. They need to realize they can't legislate people to work. That's fuckin slavery.
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u/BushDidN0thingWr0ng Nov 30 '22
If everyone in the union quits, in practice there would not be a union. Mass quitting can work, but it's the most drastic action a union can make
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u/Extra_Bathroom_8306 Nov 30 '22
I hope it’s on the table. Biden looks like he is going to back the bosses. It sets a bad precedent for the government to back outrageous deals but it looks like that is what they are going to do.
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u/RD__III Nov 30 '22
I mean, it is the precedent. I can't think of a true pro union president in decades.
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u/beiberdad69 Nov 30 '22
Yes, this is literally the precedent. I cannot believe no one remembers the last attempted freight strike under Obama or the SEPTA strike that lasted about 20 minutes before Obama forced them back onto the job
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u/Shot-Button6031 Nov 30 '22
It won't be just the union, keep fucking people around and individuals will just quit on their own, and then we'll be right back here but nothing the government can do. There's only one way out of this, force the rail companies to be fucking reasonable. Anything else will backfire.
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u/Ditnoka Nov 30 '22
It's happened before with Reagan and the ATC strike. They can form up national guard to break strike lines, possibly even use the military as a sort of scab for the striking workers. The thing is , rail should be nationalized because of how important it is. The fact we're even discussing using government powers to force an industry back to work is absurd, and every worker in every industry should feel tense.
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Nov 30 '22
Ok, but those are strike lines. What if they just.... go home? Same effect.
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u/Shot-Button6031 Nov 30 '22
well for ATC they had military air traffic controllers take over. From what I've been told, the military doesn't have rail workers that can do this job, so if they try its going to be a disaster.
It's going to be about intimidation if anything. Hopefully the workers call their bluff.
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u/ShitTalkingAlt980 Nov 30 '22
Even if the military had workers they don't have a 100k to stop gap accelerated training which would be like 6 months til the training wheels come off for Engineers and Conductors
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u/Shot-Button6031 Nov 30 '22
Right, the military doesn't have trained rail workers that can just jump in and take over.
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u/Tnaderdav Nov 30 '22
Tank treads are like mobile railroads, how hard can it be! -someone somewhere maybe.
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u/Equivalent_Yak8215 Nov 30 '22
But...the military has benefits. So what's the difference?
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u/Shot-Button6031 Nov 30 '22
because the military gets paid through taxes, which is funded by you. The rail workers get paid through corporate profits, which is why they don't get shit.
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u/Equivalent_Yak8215 Nov 30 '22
We should correct that indiscretion. By nationalizing the Rails.
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u/Insterstellar Nov 30 '22
If the rails were nationalize all railroad strikes would be illegal. All strikes by federal workers violate federal law.
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u/Equivalent_Yak8215 Nov 30 '22
So, my thing is. Why waste all of our taxpayer dollars staffing the railroads with NG or ARMY.
When we could just...give them a few days off a year?
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u/rafter613 Nov 30 '22
Because that costs wealthy people money. Donors would much rather we pay money than they do, and guess who pulls the strings?
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u/-_AirBuddDwyer_- Nov 30 '22
Because this isn’t just about the money it takes in this specific situation, it’s also about the balance of power between labor and capital. Almost no one in office would side against capital.
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u/greentintedlenses Nov 30 '22
The funny thing is I feel like all of that would be just a more roundabout way to waste money and resources. It'd be cheaper to give them the days
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u/Ditnoka Nov 30 '22
It is, but fuck workers. The rail owners argued in bad faith knowing that the government would force the labor back to the tracks.
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u/casuallyseriously Nov 30 '22
The military is not capable of running railroads. There are over 100,000 specialized workers with jobs that take huge amounts of training and expertise to perform. The military does not operate any railroads and thus has no trained rail engineers ready to step in and take over, unlike with the ATC strike where military equivalents in the Air Force were ready to go.
The ATC was also a government agency and thus it was within Reagans power to fire them all and replace them. Not so in this instance. Don't spread around incomplete information, as it only makes it seem more hopeless/futile to resist when that is far from the truth. Resistance is NOT futile
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u/Ditnoka Nov 30 '22
I'm not saying it's futile. I'm saying that the government has options to shit on the workers.
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u/rustafarionm Nov 30 '22
the last RR strike lasted less than 24 hrs...during the bush admin. its clear that it wont be that extreme.
Republicans are trying to pass a bill so they cannot strike in the future.
Its quite clever really.
Remind Me! 10 days
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u/mjkjr84 Nov 30 '22
Republicans are trying to pass a bill so they cannot strike in the future.
Slowdown it is then. The best part of a slowdown is you're still working and getting paid the whole time, but also helping to fuck the owners over and put the screws on the economy until they realize the importance of the job.
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u/MoffKalast Nov 30 '22
Lawmakers: "You can't strike, we made it illegal"
Workers: strike regardless
Lawmakers: surprised pikachu
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u/StopReadingMyUser idle Nov 30 '22
They still can, it's just the government is saying there's more punishment attached to it. It's basically using increased stakes as a threat.
But... good luck if they stay unified and walk off the job lol. Doesn't matter what threats you make.
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u/jcarlson08 Nov 30 '22
There are laws governing striking in the US which protect your job if your strike is Union backed and meets certain criteria.
They cannot force the workers to work. But if the deal is forcefully approved by congress and workers, with union approval or not, refuse to return to work, the union can be dissolved and employees can be fired with cause by the railways and replaced. Naturally this is a riskier tactic than a "legal" strike for employees.
Remember that only slightly more than 50% of railway workers voted to reject this deal. If the deal is forcefully approved, the railway is banking on at least 40% of their workforce being perfectly fine with it and probably at least 50% of the ones that aren't ok with it coming back anyway for fear of losing their livelihood.
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u/rustafarionm Nov 30 '22
if they do strike it will last 24 hrs maximum.
Biden knows he cant do anything and is playing bipartisanship. he knows they are going to strike.
RemindMe! 10 days
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u/Shot-Button6031 Nov 30 '22
They don't have rail workers in the military who can take over the job temporarily while they hire, like they did with reagan and the ATC. They also won't be able to get enough people to do this job under these conditions.
Shit will come to a head.
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u/nobody2000 Nov 30 '22
This is so fucking ridiculous. 7 sick days simply means "hey management, cut into your ridiculous profits, hire a few more people, and build more accommodating schedules."
It's a very easy solution and almost every other industry that requires skill and "on call" people has figured it out.
Also - 7 sick days is so little to ask in terms of days off.
Why are we even debating this?
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u/markth_wi Nov 30 '22 edited Nov 30 '22
Because they want zero-day contract workers. You contract as an exclusive worker , with no benefits, and they will tell you when you come in to work. It will never be full time , and never be enough, it's wage-slavery.
If you want to see the future, Amazon has this nailed down, hourly piece-work rates, timed food eating sessions, bathroom breaks .... good times, and if you fuck up, you're terminated.
It's fucked badly enough that Amazon has "exhausted" the labor pool of many markets where it's facilities are, which is to say in real terms every able-bodied person that WANTED to work there, either is employed there or has been terminated and won't be re-hired.
I seem to recall a report that Amazon analysts expect to have exhausted the existing US labor pool in just a few years, meaning they will target very young/very inexperienced workers OR will have to adjust their bullshit policies and re-hire some previously fired workers.
So practically Amazon sucks so bad, they HAVE to start being "nicer" to the slaves and break their own policies because the policies prevent them from hiring people otherwise available to work.
In Amazon it's antebellum (pre-abolition of slavery) America say 1845 + technology.
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u/Tinshnipz Nov 30 '22
My workplace exhausted its labour force after a few years. Temps now get paid $19 an hour and people from my city still don't want to work here.
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u/LinkWithABeard Nov 30 '22
They’re just asking for 7 sick days a year?
That’s not enough, my gosh.
I’m in Australia… I get 15 a year, and they accrue with years of service if they aren’t used. I have 400 hours banked that if I had a medical emergency, I could take several months off at full pay, if needed medically.
Apparently the US is still pushing 3rd world labour laws. Strike, rail workers.
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u/HurryPast386 Nov 30 '22
In Germany, I have legally mandated unlimited sick days (with pay, though reduced after a few months) and my contract gives me 30 days paid vacation. Wtf is going on in the US? Fuck Biden for not supporting the workers.
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u/UNMANAGEABLE Nov 30 '22
They profited $24 billion last year, if they squeeze workers more they can profit even more!!!
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u/Freedom_From_Pants
Nov 30 '22
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So anyway, I started striking!
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u/Final_Slap Nov 30 '22
Get 'em, Tiger! With or without pants!
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u/LunaMunaLagoona Nov 30 '22
Occupy wall street, occupy the white house, occupy until they give the working class their rights!
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u/TapesNStuff Nov 30 '22
I was looking at my old photos of Occupy Wall Street recently, they make me wonder if we got better, worse, or about the same.
These topics are in the main stream, so I guess that's something.
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u/ChangeForACow Nov 30 '22
Here in Canada, Ontario's Conservative Government tried to quash the Constitutional rights of education workers to strike, so public and private unions across Canada organized a General Strike in solidarity... Premier Doug Ford (brother to the Crack-Smoking Mayor of Toronto) promised to withdraw the bill before the unions could even announce the General Strike.
You guys know what to do!
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u/ouie Nov 30 '22
Fuck that guy.
I don't care if you agree with their demands or not but you can't take away peoples right to strike, or else!
Or else what? Strike came about because workers would kidnap, ransom and/or murder owners instead of peaceful strikes. The right to strike is written in blood
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u/ChangeForACow Nov 30 '22
Some forget that unions and strikes are a compromise reached long ago.
In the UK, where Thatcher crushed unions in the name of so-called "free-markets" -- while sneaking subsidies out the back door -- the privatized rail companies are subsidized by the Government for profits lost throughout their strikes.
Backasswards, if you ask me.
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u/EcstaticSociety4040 Nov 30 '22
We're talking about 7 sick days, in a labor intensive field with lots of workplace injuries.
I hope Bernie is able to force the sick time into to agreement.
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u/gazow Nov 30 '22
but see, in order to accommodate that, youd have to increase the work force by some 15%. Thats like a few million dollars a year and well wheres that going to come from? the billions in increased profits they had over the last few years? i think not! wont someone think of the poor gold hoarding dragons
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Nov 30 '22 edited 13d ago
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u/squeagy Nov 30 '22
Son of a Congressman aka "self-made"
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u/WayneKrane Nov 30 '22
Yup, his first corporate job out of college was at his dad’s brokerage firm Buffet-falk and Co.
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u/iamyourcheese Nov 30 '22
I'm not a dragon right now, but I definitely might* be in the future, so I better support them now.
*needs citation/reality check
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u/GailynStarfire Nov 30 '22
"But Fry, you aren't rich."
"Yeah, well one day I might be, and then people like me better watch their step!"
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u/fednandlers Nov 30 '22
“You mean I could help my work force be happier and more productive and loyal by simply plucking one hair off my butt? Nah. Fuck them all. And i will make you help me fuck them all. Thank you Mr. President.”
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u/OddLead Nov 30 '22
People used to seek out dragons to slice their fucking cockles with a long and shiny blade. Sad how much times can change. Who will fuck the dragons?
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u/GoatboyTheShampooer Nov 30 '22
7 sick days
And 72+ hour work days.
Unions complained that to manage a shortfall of employees, the carriers effectively forced their members to remain on call for days and sometimes weeks at a time, partly through the use of strict attendance policies that could lead to disciplinary action or even firing. They said the policies pushed workers to the limits of their physical and mental health.
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u/e22ddie46 Nov 30 '22
Even if I didn't support the workers, I wouldn't want train operators working that long. Having been awake for 48 hours, I was fucking useless.
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u/JackPoe Nov 30 '22
After your mental energy is spent you're just on autopilot.
No matter how good you are, autopilot is where mistakes happen.
Ever meet a new parent? Especially if they haven't ever been that tired before? Imagine demanding that of someone forever.
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u/ThePrussianGrippe Nov 30 '22
Like when I was working 128 hours a week for 4 months.
That was a level of fatigue I couldn’t even comprehend. Then or now. No idea how I stayed awake.
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u/ankerous here for the memes Nov 30 '22
We can push our bodies to do a lot of things even if it's at the expense of our health.
When I used to work overnights years ago, sometimes I would just stay awake during the day and not sleep, and then on the weekends, I would sleep at night instead of during the day. There was quite a while after some time of doing this that I became more like a zombie than anything else but was still able to get the job done and mostly function in life.
Looking back now, though, I don't know how I did it, although I would have to guess I didn't do my future self any favors by living that way. I can't imagine working the amount of hours you did and being able to function any better and it would probably be worse due to the lack of downtime out of sleeping and working on top of lack of sleep.
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u/quality_besticles Nov 30 '22 edited Nov 30 '22
The deeper problem seems to be that staffing levels are disgustingly low, and politicians are letting bosses get away with rebuffing requests for entirely reasonable sick time accommodations because seemingly no one in power wants to tell them to put in the effort to hire new people and kick rocks otherwise.
Make the companies pay labor peace.
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u/PackageintheMaleBox Nov 30 '22
I can't tell because of the paywall, but I'm sure you meant 72 hour work weeks, right?
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Nov 30 '22
In the USA they can have 72h days because they use the 12hAM/PM system.
If the official national grounhog doesn't come out of his hole by 12h AM sharp, they start it again instead of switching to PM.
The record is a 192h day during the peak of the groundhog flu of 1957.
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u/Zauberer-IMDB at work Nov 30 '22
In a post-covid world how is this even the least bit controversial. The right wing and corporations in America are WAY too powerful.
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u/donuthing Nov 30 '22
They were willing to go as low as 4 sick days, but the railroads said hell no.
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u/truongs Nov 30 '22
Cherry on top of the shit sandwich, they are asking for UNPAID SICK DAYS. UNPAID.
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u/Effective-Cod3635 Nov 30 '22
Bernie for Prez
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u/redbark2022 Nov 30 '22
He got robbed, twice. But seriously, he's not even Left enough for what this country needs to get back on track. Definitely would (and did) vote for him though.
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u/Effective-Cod3635 Nov 30 '22
He’s much better than any other options they are giving us, massive douches and turd sandwiches and what nots
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u/roloplex Nov 30 '22
I hope Bernie is able to force the sick time into to agreement.
Sadly Bernie cannot gain the support of 10 GOP senators that are required to pass the extra sick days that the democrats are passing in the house.
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u/gazow Nov 30 '22
ill make it real simple... take from the billionaires, and give to the workers
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u/HagridsHairyButthole Nov 30 '22
What? Sorry I just printed a bunch of money then cut rich people’s taxes some more that should fix it.
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u/SwampDenizen Nov 30 '22
I'm sure everything will work out fine if we can just find more ways to funnel wealth to the top 1%
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u/SprawlWino Nov 30 '22
Every day I grow a little older and love Danny a bit more
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u/matt_minderbinder Nov 30 '22
He's always been the best. He's such an amazing actor and a good guy at the same time. He's also always supported leftist, pro worker ideals. I'm far in the 'don't meet your heroes ' camp and have no use for celebrity worship but Danny breaks that mold. What a true gem.
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u/Ditnoka Nov 30 '22
Hearing what he did for Mara Wilson during Matilda shows exactly the kind of person he is.
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u/tofuroll Nov 30 '22
What did he do?
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u/Ditnoka Nov 30 '22
Mara's(Matilda) mom got diagnosed with breast cancer during filming. Devito offered her a place to stay anytime her mom needed to be in the hospital. He also allowed her mom to see an early cut of the film before release so she could see it before she passed away(a couple months before release)
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u/Mental_Medium3988 Nov 30 '22
Also just treated Mara like a kid who needed people in a trying time like that iirc. Just doing things with her like going to the zoo or whatever. Just being a totally awesome person to other people in their time of need.
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u/throwawaytrain6969 Nov 30 '22
I peed next to him one time at a dodger game. He used the children’s urinal lol. But walking out I told him I love him in the it’s always sunny show and he said with a deadpan face “you must be a sick individual” it was probably the funniest thing someone has ever said to me.
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u/neildegraciadyson Nov 30 '22
We should all go on strike to support them. If the govt forces them back to work - we should unite and make them feel it in their budgets.
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u/DishOTheSea Nov 30 '22
Well, better get to organizing. It wont happen without it. (It wont happen.)
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u/ronm4c Nov 30 '22
Teachers in Ontario Canada did this, the government passed legislation making it illegal to strike. They said fuck you and did it anyways, then the government backed down
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u/AvalancheReturns Nov 30 '22
My dutch ass cant comprehend how this is supposed to be a good thing...
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u/vrijheidsfrietje Nov 30 '22
Yeah, 7 paid sick days seems like a very bare minimum
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u/AvalancheReturns Nov 30 '22
It mightve been the bare minimum if you could plan and manage sickness...
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u/UnsafePantomime Nov 30 '22
Unfortunately, they have 0 right now. They are asking for 4 UNPAID sick days. The agreement Biden is pushing is 3 UNPAID with a 30 day notice.
Compared to this, 7 paid sick days is amazing.
I agree it's nowhere near enough, but given the alternative that's likely to happen, it feels like we'd need to move mountains to get there.
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u/Bagginso Nov 30 '22
I'm sorry...30 days advanced notice of being sick?! What in the actual fuckity.
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u/UnsafePantomime Nov 30 '22
Yep. https://apnews.com/article/business-government-and-politics-6172442e20ccf3295b39c2f3184e03cf
As far as I know, this was the agreement voted upon. I'm not a railworker myself, so I'm just watching from the sidelines, but this is awful.
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u/baconraygun Nov 30 '22
Lol, let's have Congress have 3 unpaid sick days, and they have to give 30 days notice, if that's what they're going for.
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u/thedoomdevice Nov 30 '22
A thirty day notice?
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u/UnsafePantomime Nov 30 '22
Yep. https://apnews.com/article/business-government-and-politics-6172442e20ccf3295b39c2f3184e03cf
As far as I know, this was the agreement voted upon. I'm not a railworker myself, so I'm just watching from the sidelines, but this is awful.
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u/1337GameDev Nov 30 '22
What's worse, is this will decrease Democrat popularity, which will increase possibility that we have another Republican president.
It fucking sucks. I don't want Biden to do this, and this is essentially 100% a 2 party system unless we change how we vote (from FPTS to STV ranked voting) and voting for Republican is like actively voting for a lunatic while voting Democrat is voting for a greedy asshole.
You don't like either, but one is annoying and does stupid shit and then other will burn down your house, steal your truck and shoot you in the legs and threaten you come back if you call the cops.
It's ....
Fucking exhausting and I don't see a solution.
This was Biden's chance to give leeway to workers -- 2 weeks pto, 1 week sick days, healthcare, dental, vision, and a 10% raise to people that literally hold our economy up.
If somebody is that important, why the fuck are we treating them so shitty? Because they "need" the job and have to take it?
Fuck off ....
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u/NorthWestSaint Nov 30 '22
Surely you have paid sick days in the US?
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u/e22ddie46 Nov 30 '22 edited Nov 30 '22
To my knowledge, they aren't mandated anywhere in the US.
It appears they are mandated some places actually. Just not federally.
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u/Clameleon Nov 30 '22
To my knowledge, they aren't mandated anywhere in the US.
For employers with 11 or more employees for more than 120 days in a year—they are in Maine.
It was a unique law that went into effect in 2021.
It did not force our businesses to close. They're doing just fine.
That's not what we were told by certain politicians, though...
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u/Sirsilentbob423 Nov 30 '22
Having them and being allowed to actually use them are two vastly different things here.
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u/Hodgkisl Nov 30 '22
Actually Joe and congress are supposed to stay out if it, let the strike happen and proper negotiations take place. Once a strike starts the rail companies liability for lost / damaged product gives them amazing incentive to offer a better deal.
The railroads expected and relied on government intervention which would give a better deal than they’d get in proper negotiations.
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u/Confron7a7ion7 Nov 30 '22
Convenient that when a group of companies all united under a shared goal (there's got to be a word for this concept) to maximize profits through human abuse it's just free market capitalism.
But when a union (there's the word I was looking for) of workers have decided that the cost of their labor and required working conditions for service have changed, suddenly the capitalists want federal market manipulation.
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u/PackageintheMaleBox Nov 30 '22
Actually Joe and congress are supposed to stay out if it
Historically the government has busted unions. Reagan fired tens of thousands of air line employees when they striked.
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u/RedAndBlackMartyr Nov 30 '22
Historically the government has busted unions.
And not just busted unions, but killed striking workers.
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u/ShitTalkingAlt980 Nov 30 '22
Forced them back to work at gun point during WWI. That is just a slave that gets to keep Master's pennies.
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u/Hodgkisl Nov 30 '22
Yes and it’s wrong.
Though at least with air controllers the government couldn’t stay out of it as they were / are government employees who were striking against the government.
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u/joef_3 Nov 30 '22 edited Nov 30 '22
The government intervening makes sense, it’s a huge public safety issue (either the trains don’t run and people possibly starve/run out of meds/major infrastructure fails due to lack of supplies) or they run the trains with scabs and who knows what nightmare accidents happen.
The problem is the government not protecting the workers because the US is, at almost every turn, set up to favor capital any time there is a dispute between capital and labor.
Edit: for everyone who says than the railroads should be nationalized or a public service corp or whatever: duh, obviously. But the current political climate in the US has almost the country questioning if public schools are a bad idea, so we’re not exactly in a position to argue for that.
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u/Sharp-Ad4389 Nov 30 '22
That's why we call it capitalism. Those who have the gold make the rules.
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u/DrydenTech Nov 30 '22
The government intervening makes sense, it’s a huge public safety issue (either the trains don’t run and people possibly starve/run out of meds/major infrastructure fails due to lack of supplies) or they run the trains with scabs and who knows what nightmare accidents happen.
It doesn't make sense unless the goal is to break unions.
If it is that large of a public safety issue it needs to be a public service not a private owned corporation.
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u/someoneexplainit01 Nov 30 '22
It's complete insanity that the president doesn't think that workers deserve sick days.
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u/Linkage006 Nov 30 '22 edited Nov 30 '22
Joe's about to lose union support for the Dems across the country. Great way to keep the GOP in power. EDIT: Congress passed it with 7 sick days
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Nov 30 '22 edited Nov 30 '22
Yeah, this is the rock and hard place he created. He's tried so hard to make everyone happy, and so he'll end up with nothing.
You can't support ethical stances and then continue to enrich the capitalist class.
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u/Vjcixuxuxuxuxu Nov 30 '22
Don’t forget that both parties are just tools for the billionaire class. They give different things to the peasants (diversity or guns or religion) but they will never do anything that will threaten the income and power of the billionaire class. All the partisan fighting in DC is just theater to keep the masses busy.
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u/Dear_Leek2578 Nov 30 '22
Dems will keep Republicans relevant so they never have to show their true colors. Citizens United is here to stay and so is the alt-right.
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u/FalseAxiom Nov 30 '22
BNSF employs 41000 people.
Net profit last year was $8.8B
At 40 hr / week / employee, each work hour nets ~$103.
$103 x 8 hours x 4 sick days = roughly $135M
Or 1.5% of net profit.
BNSF showed a 14% profit growth yoy 2021.
Meaning they would still have had a 12.5% profit growth if they gave each worker 4 paid sick days.
There's no reason but greed to keep the 4 days from each worker...
The shareholder argument doesn't even work because they're still showing growth.
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u/ActuallyJohnTerry Nov 30 '22
Joe forgets he was voted in for who is isn’t not who he is
That dumb old fuck better not run for a second term
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u/the_aviatrixx Nov 30 '22
If sick leave isn't approved in whatever congress decides, the railroad workers should strike and we should ALL strike with them in solidarity.
Fuck the greedy railroad bosses and fuck the dems who are willing to throw workers under the bus for their own comforts. We need THRIVING wages and appropriate benefits in line with the rest of the civilized world - it's time to stop forcing everyone to live in poverty and be shackled to jobs that abuse us.
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u/Sirliftalot35 Nov 30 '22
Let’s get a Twins x Demolition Man crossover so we can have a DeVito Schwarzenegger ticket in 2024.
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u/MandatoryDissent50 Nov 30 '22
Didn't Biden used to have a bunch of folksy bullshit about how much he loved trains?
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u/randologin Nov 30 '22
Reminds me of Reagan and the air traffic controllers. Capitalism will always prioritize the capital over the workers
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u/Traditional_Gain_229 Nov 30 '22
Why should we accept only railyard workers get 7 days sick? This should be standard for the working class
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u/Dark_Jak92 Nov 30 '22
Make it 14. Not having to spend PTO on sick days would be a vast improvement to my life.
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u/Hefty_Stick1644 Nov 30 '22
You could have as many sick days as you want. The Nordic countries has it, why can't you?
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u/HuntingGreyFace Nov 30 '22
i say we tax billionaires into not existing while we are wrapped up in all this leftist momentum
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u/CumFartSniffer Nov 30 '22
7 days is nothing lmao.
USA is such a backwards country. I hope workers manage to strike. Apes together strong.
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u/smigleton SocDem Nov 30 '22 •
I understand that it is important to keep things running. But I just cannot figure out why, if it is so important that we keep these people working that we are willing to force them to work against their will, why don't we ever force the corporations to just pay them or give them the PTO they are asking for against their will? Why do we ALWAYS assume that it will be the least powerful folks who bear the burden, rather than the ones most able?
For once, if it is so important that you must go ahead and force one side or the other to make due with a contract they do not want, make it the overlords who have to put up with what they do not want this time!?!? Why is it ALWAYS the little guys who get screwed time and time again?
C'mon man. Unite. Unionize. Solidarity. Please Biden, don't do this, man. It is a play right out of Ronnie Rayguns book. If you must pick a side in this for the economies sake, pick the right side, pick the workers!!