🇺🇸 Ridin’ with Biden: It's Joever

[squeekness]

He's not wrong.

 

[squeekness]

****ing with workers and unions is not good no matter which parties do it. Biden and all Dems who went along are a disgrace.

For once you and I are in agreement.

 

[moviedoors]

Rail unions look to next contract talks as Biden signs agreement - Roll Call
Sick leave remains an issue for some workers and unions are eager to start talks for 2025



It's not the end of the road. If they don't feel the union leaders are prioritizing the same things the membership does (more money not PTO/scheduling), they should replace the union leaders with new people who do. And at the end of the day it's Congress that may get the final say under the Railway Labor Act depending on how they react. That act was passed almost a hundred years ago because of widespread, sometimes violent turmoil that railway strikes used to cause.

NY Times - United Auto Workers Appear to Rebuke Leaders in First Vote by Members
Insurgent candidates showed strength, citing corruption scandals and calling for a tougher bargaining approach. The union president seems headed for a runoff.

You keep putting the pressure and blame for this on the workers instead of their insanely rich bosses. The ones at the top could make all of this go away simply by not being greedy ****ing monsters.

 

[squeekness]

You keep putting the pressure and blame for this on the workers instead of their insanely rich bosses. The ones at the top could make all of this go away simply by not being greedy ****ing monsters.

Seriously. This is why "trickle down" doesn't work, the ones making the real money never let it trickle down to the poorest paid.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

For once you and I are in agreement.

You should agree with me more often.

 

[Iceman]

Better than trickle down is boost the foundations at the bottom and the economy will improve to everyone’s benefit.

 

[Snow Queen]

No sick days for you, peasants. Thank goodness the good guys are here to put an end to such unreasonable demands.

 

[InCali]

Focusing on the Democrats being primarily responsible for the "no sick days" part of the railway "agreement" (if you can call it that), is shallow at best and misleading at the worst.

First off, as a long time union guy, I don't like agreements forced on me or my membership so there absolutely IS something to the complaint that the Dems played a role in an agreement that does not provide what every worker in the world deserves; paid leave.

However, for those who say they want the government to stay out of their negotiations, you are being opaque at best and hypocritical at the worst. I know because I have asked for, and gotten, "help" from elected leaders in our negotiations. The difference is that we never had any agreement forced upon us and that is something I'm very much opposed to. What that really says is that we want help from elected leaders when we need, or want, it, but we want them to stay out of our way the rest of the time. In other words, we want a one way street.

I'm saying this as someone who has played this game, but is not throwing out a diatribe in order to gain pressure at the bargaining table and get the best contract possible for my members. Here, as I see it, is what really happened.

Virtually ALL of the democrats pushed for paid leave days, but didn't have enough votes to pass it because the vast majority of the republicans (and Manchin) withheld their support for it. At that point, it became a choice and a terrible one for the party in power (the Democrats). Do you withhold your support for the agreement (ie not sign it), let the two sides battle it out, and risk severe damage to the overall economic picture (knowing that YOU WILL be blamed for it) OR do you sign the agreement and use it as a platform to push for federal legislation providing paid leave to a much larger portion of the work force?

While I probably wouldn't have signed the legislation, I can also recognize that it would have been, politically, a very, very stupid move. In other words, what really happened is that the republicans handed the democrats a no win situation by denying workers paid leave. One side supported paid leave and the other did not. That is the truth of the matter and the bulk of the blame for having no paid leave lies at the feet of the republican party.

Say, for example, that Biden decided to not sign the agreement passed by the legislature. Does that get people paid leave? Don't be naive and think that the same republicans who torpedoed the paid leave legislation were bluffing and would have caved in and voted for it in that scenario. They would have gladly seen an economic crisis unfold which would have been put directly on the doorstep of the democrats and used it as a campaign theme in 2024.

The unfortunate reality is that a large group of workers didn't get what they deserve because of the impact a strike would have probably had on the overall economic picture. While it's not the point, a lot of the workers DID want to accept the deal, but there clearly wasn't enough support within the rank and file membership for all of the unions to ratify the agreement. The bottom line is there were no good guys in this entire situation (except the workers), but some of the guys, specifically the republicans, were a LOT worse than others.

 

[moviedoors]

That is the truth of the matter and the bulk of the blame for having no paid leave lies at the feet of the republican party.

No, it belongs with the hire ups at the railroad companies. They need to quit being left out of this discussion.

 

[InCali]

No, it belongs with the hire ups at the railroad companies. They need to quit being left out of this discussion.

100% agree. It’s so obvious to me, that I left them completely out of it. I was focusing on purely the political aspect of it, but yeah, they are the worst. Some Democrats will oppose them, and almost all the republican lawmakers are willing to lick their boots. Management is the biggest problem we’ve got. Plain and simple.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

BARGAINING STATUS FAQ – NOVEMBER 2022 - NRLC

Q: Why did the railroads reject proposals to add benefits on top of the framework recommended by the PEB?

A: The request for additional benefits made by the few unions that have not ratified tentative agreements is similar to a proposal which was carefully considered and rejected by President Biden’s Presidential Emergency Board (PEB). It comes weeks after these same unions entered into tentative agreements that included the most generous wage package in almost 50 years of national rail negotiations.

The health, safety, and wellbeing of rail employees is a top priority for all railroads, and any suggestion that rail workers cannot take time off when sick is easily disproven. Rail employees can and do take time off for sickness and have comprehensive paid sickness benefits starting, depending upon craft, after as few as four days of absence and lasting up to 52 weeks. The structure of these benefits is a function of decades of bargaining where unions have repeatedly agreed that short-term absences would be unpaid in favor of higher compensation for days worked and more generous sickness benefits for longer absences.

The PEB’s recommendations remain the framework for an agreement. Now is not the time to introduce new demands that rekindle the prospect of a railroad strike. The carriers have therefore advised the unions that the latest proposal will not be accepted and that they must accept agreements based on the PEB-recommended framework. If they fail to do so, however, Congress may implement the PEB’s recommendations before the agreed-upon cooling off period ends, as it has in the past, to prevent service disruptions.

Q:         What is in the new agreements?

A:         All of the new agreements increase wages by 24 percent during the five-year period from 2020 through 2024, with a 14.1 wage percent increase effective immediately. The agreements also include five $1,000 annual lump sum payments, adjustments to health care premiums, and health benefit enhancements, and an additional personal leave day for all employees. A portion of the wage increases and lump sum payments are retroactive, resulting in more than $11,000 on average in immediate payouts to employees.

The wage increases in the new agreements are the most substantial in decades – with average rail worker wages reaching about $110,000 per year by the end of the agreement. When health care, retirement, and other benefits are considered, the value of rail employees’ total compensation package, which already ranks among the highest in the nation, would average about $160,000 per year.

The agreements also include craft-specific rules for operating craft and maintenance of way employees.

Of course moving money from your pay to your time off is just a shell game, but it was a shell game the unions agreed to decades ago and so in order to get sick days in the next round of bargaining they'd have to rip up the existing structures and make it the priority over higher pay again (which is how the railroad owners justify not directly paying sick days.)

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

The Washington Post - U.S. gas prices plunge toward $3 a gallon as demand drops worldwide
The average price of gas is back to where it was before Russia invaded Ukraine. It is putting real money back in Americans’ wallets.

 

[squeekness]

The Washington Post - U.S. gas prices plunge toward $3 a gallon as demand drops worldwide
The average price of gas is back to where it was before Russia invaded Ukraine. It is putting real money back in Americans’ wallets.

Maybe it won't break me to heat the house this winter.

 

[Teelie]

The Washington Post - U.S. gas prices plunge toward $3 a gallon as demand drops worldwide
The average price of gas is back to where it was before Russia invaded Ukraine. It is putting real money back in Americans’ wallets.

I am sure it is an actual coincidence but it only seem to happen after the midterms were over.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

I am sure it is an actual coincidence but it only seem to happen after the midterms were over.

Not really...the national average has been falling since June (and plateaued for a while Sep./Oct. before dipping down again in Nov.), which is also the same time (June) the rate of inflation peaked and interest rates were hiked a lot. I think OPEC+ (Russia+Saudia Arabia) in particular caused the plateau for a little while else the line would've been a straighter decline to where it is today.

U.S. All Grades All Formulations Retail Gasoline Prices (Dollars per Gallon)
Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update

Anyway, the president has to be ready for more oil market manipulation in 2024 by unfriendly energy autocrats.

NY Times - U.S. Officials Had a Secret Oil Deal With the Saudis. Or So They Thought. (October 2022)
After Saudi leaders pushed to slash oil production despite a visit by President Biden, American officials have been left fuming that they were duped.

Axios - U.S. gives Chevron go ahead to pump oil in Venezuela again (November 2022)

 

[Lily Adler]

Biden picked the wrong side in the rail union strike (msnbc.com)

Rail workers angry with Biden for not pushing for paid sick leave in contract. : NPR

Biden just knifed labor unions in the back. They shouldn’t forget it | Hamilton Nolan | The Guardian

 

[Lily Adler]

 

[Lily Adler]

Biden Urged to Sign Executive Order Guaranteeing Rail Workers Paid Sick Leave (commondreams.org)

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Jordan Fabian: "President Biden, via Jake Sullivan, has invited Brazilian President-elect Lula to visit the White House"

The White House - Readout of National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s Travel to Brasilia, Brazil

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan traveled to Brasilia, Brazil on Monday, December 5 for meetings with senior representatives of the Brazilian government and members of the incoming administration of President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Sullivan was accompanied by senior officials from the National Security Council and State Department.

Mr. Sullivan met with Secretary for Strategic Affairs Admiral Flávio Rocha to express appreciation for the progress in the U.S.-Brazil relationship and reinforce the long-term, strategic nature of the U.S.-Brazil partnership.

Mr. Sullivan also met with President-elect Lula and members of his transition team, during which he congratulated the President-elect on his election victory and discussed the importance of keeping open channels of communication between the two countries during the transition. The leaders also discussed how the United States and Brazil can continue to work together to address common challenges, including combatting climate change, safeguarding food security, promoting inclusion, democracy, international peace and stability, and managing regional migration. During the meeting, Mr. Sullivan extended an invitation on behalf of President Biden for President-elect Lula to visit Washington.

 

[moviedoors]

Biden, Demoting Iowa and Prizing Diversity, Wants S.C. as First Primary

Sure, pick a state that hasn't gone for a Democrat in nearly 50 years.

"And in a joint statement, Senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada raised “serious concerns” about the proposed order, taking implicit swipes at South Carolina’s overall conservative tilt as they argued that the kickoff contest “should be held in a competitive, pro-labor state that supports voting access and reflects all of America’s diversity.”

Yeah, that.

 

[DJ Kornphlake]

 

[squeekness]

Not a good look, Joe.

 

[DJ Kornphlake]

Because he didn't do a photo op at the border?

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

The obsession with Mexico border is racist. Nobody cares about the northern border. No one should be going to any border for a stupid stunt.

Going to the Southern border is a dog whistle to whites that you hate Latinos.

AZ Central - Republican border 'invasion' talk is a racist dog whistle (Op-Ed)

Before being used to justify harsh measures against Latinos, old different border obsessions in back history were used to remove/kill Native Americans.

 

[squeekness]

Because he didn't do a photo op at the border?

The border is a serious issue and this makes it look like he doesn't care.