All 12 railroad unions vote individually to ratify their contracts, unless congress intervenes and imposes a contract which forces all to abide. The railroad unions representing a majority of the railroad workers remain in dispute with the currently proposed contract with no resolution in sight and a potential labor union strike looming on December 9th.
If one union within the collective group strikes, all of the unions — which represent more than 115,000 rail workers — would almost certainly join in solidarity, triggering an industry-wide freight rail work stoppage.
With the unions at an impasse over sick pay, Joe Biden has asked congress to intervene and impose a contract based on the terms of an earlier agreement.
(White House) – I am calling on Congress to pass legislation immediately to adopt the Tentative Agreement between railroad workers and operators – without any modifications or delay – to avert a potentially crippling national rail shutdown.
This agreement was approved by labor and management negotiators in September. On the day that it was announced, labor leaders, business leaders, and elected officials all hailed it as a fair resolution of the dispute between the hard-working men and women of the rail freight unions and the companies in that industry.
The deal provides a historic 24% pay raise for rail workers. It provides improved health care benefits. And it provides the ability of operating craft workers to take unscheduled leave for medical needs. Since that time, the majority of the unions in the industry have voted to approve the deal.
During the ratification votes, the Secretaries of Labor, Agriculture, and Transportation have been in regular touch with labor leaders and management. They believe that there is no path to resolve the dispute at the bargaining table and have recommended that we seek Congressional action.
Let me be clear: a rail shutdown would devastate our economy. Without freight rail, many U.S. industries would shut down. My economic advisors report that as many as 765,000 Americans – many union workers themselves – could be put out of work in the first two weeks alone. Communities could lose access to chemicals necessary to ensure clean drinking water. Farms and ranches across the country could be unable to feed their livestock.
As a proud pro-labor President, I am reluctant to override the ratification procedures and the views of those who voted against the agreement. But in this case – where the economic impact of a shutdown would hurt millions of other working people and families – I believe Congress must use its powers to adopt this deal.
Some in Congress want to modify the deal to either improve it for labor or for management. However well-intentioned, any changes would risk delay and a debilitating shutdown. The agreement was reached in good faith by both sides. (read more)
A national freight stoppage would be bad for the entire transportation sector. Moving oil, coal, ethanol and derivatives needed for diesel transport would be almost impossible with a freight railroad shut down. Congress has needed to intervene in this contract process several times before.
Nancy Pelosi released the following statement:
[…] “This week, the House will take up a bill adopting the Tentative Agreement – with no poison pills or changes to the negotiated terms – and send it to the Senate. It is my hope that this necessary, strike-averting legislation will earn a strongly bipartisan vote, giving America’s families confidence in our commitment to protecting their financial futures.”
Every time Nancy says she’s doing something “for the American People”, you can bet there’s money laundering going on. Just sayin.
Ya think?
Just like she called our nation’s capitol the “people’s house” right before she decided no one but real terrorists to our union were allowed there.
Want to know if there is going to be a strike? Check Nancy’s portfolio… is she long or short the freightlines?
Isn’t Paul a genius investor????
When he isn’t playing “hide the hammer” with his special friends that is…..
This is what comes from putting children in charge. Its only going to get worse, unless something changes. They won’t let us vote our way out, so……
Sharpening the tangs on my hay fork now….at the ready
gonna need something with a little more fire power, but keep the fork handy.
A hell of a lot more than a fork! The tree of liberty,…
Few own them any more but they’re really handy for moving detritus.
Three or four tangs?
Four
May this derail spectacularly… Decades of government meddling and legislative screwing around in private industry needs to simply blow up in their faces.
Diversion from Maricopa?
(White House) – I am calling on Congress to pass legislation immediately to adopt the Tentative Agreement between railroad workers and operators – without any modifications or delay – to avert a
potentiallypolitically crippling national rail shutdown.Fixed it!
Yep, ’cause if you want something to be really balled up, get the gobm’t involved! They don’t do anything except line their pockets with our hard earned $$
Unions are the best. Please read this in the most sarcastic voice that you can imagine.
Without labor unions there would be no child labor laws , no workman’s compensation insurance for job related injuries no 40 hour week etc …
However most unions have become political fund raising social clubs for ultimately leftist democrat party causes and candidates .
Workers protection from abuse by employers has evaporated and now because of that a new resurgence of unions is starting !
Fact : if minimum wage kept up with inflation and Wall Street bonuses it would be over $75 bucks per hour not $15
Yes this is true they did get some very important things done for workers but the time is over. All unions do now is drive up costs and reduce productivity. Fact: minimum wage is a big factor in the very high inflation we have experienced since it’s inception. Wages are something that should be left to the employer and employee to work out. No unskilled worker should get $15 per hour.
Unions have been corrupted like virtually every other facet of government and society today.
By the malignant Left.
No. Because of the wholesale abandonment of personal integrity.
Morals really do matter.
48 year member of the IBEW now retired for many years. The leadership of the unions do not represent the members, they are corrupted just like our politicians. Many members vote republican even though the leadership pushes democrats, because the membership realizes the economy is better under republican administration and there is MORE WORK, because a lot of members work construction and we need a good economy to fund maintenance and construction jobs. There are many conservative union members, I believe a huge amount of Trump supporters are union members, as I am.
I’ve helped IBEW members as a provider based patient insurance advocate, and most of my union experiences with plan administration have been very positive. I’ve always gotten more slack from a union n keeping coverage active than a big box employer or Fed Gov. So at least in that aspect, I have a positive opinion of unions.
I’m a 20 year member of IBEW. I’m believe you are correct.
In addition, Trump built all of his resorts and hotels for the most part with union tradesmen.
The construction union in CA screwed the union members by allowing illegals in the trade, and they destroyed the retirements, benefits, etc of the workers.
Now, with the Obama ZIRP policy, the pensions are pretty broke, and all those workers who played by the rules have a pension fund that can hardly pay benefits.
Let us decide who you get to work for and what we want to pay you !
Why not? The gov mint is paying millions of people to stay home. (With our grand kids money).
No one should be paid $15 an hour to pour a cup of coffee.
No one should be paid $15 million dollars a year to throw a ball in a child’s game.
The world has lost its mind and money has been the idol of worship.
Unions are organized crime.
Labor unions have outlived their usefulness; especially in the education sector.
My teacher mother said that the quality of gov’t education really started to fall when 1) unions became powerful, and 2) federal money started coming in.
I would have no problems with unions IF they were never allowed to donate to any politician, political group, or any other lobby or influence group no matter what name they call it.
Unions had their place in the beginning.
NOW, they have turned into the mafia aka dnc.
Their usefullness has expired
Yep, unions emerged out of the robber baron era of the industrial revolution. Now the robber baron is the fascist combination of corporate America and government. Tough row to hoe, even for a union.
Worked in an open shop state at a job that had a union. The job required we be there a half hour before starting time to go over work requirements for the day, but weren’t paid for that time. A person in another state(same type of job and requirements) took this to court, and it ended up in the federal appeals court – he won. As the state I was in was under that court’s jurisdiction, we also started getting paid. The union tried to claim credit for this, even though they were not the ones who started and pushed forward the lawsuit.
Also, the shop steward of the group I was part of was one of those representing the union in annual negotiations. He mentioned once that if the administration sent a hot secretary from the central office over his way, he would sell out the union in a heartbeat.
You are conflating the minimum wage with the idea of a “living wage. Those two concepts could not be further apart. Then you add in bonuses paid on a performance basis for a white collar salaried individual as if the these things were all of equal import to a functioning company. You’re reasoning like a perpetually maladjusted political science major who relies on emotional blackmail rather than actual facts or reason.
Bonuses at the high levels are typically earned by competent executives, although a lot of them are politically connected.
That said, there is NO FINANCIAL CONNECTION between entry-level pay, and CEO pay…None.
It’s a leftist canard, nothing more.
Passing it off to Congress by design will result in the RR union(s) getting what they want while blaming the Republicans for voting for it….or let them go on strike and still blame the Republicans for allowing it.
Schumer, et al have out maneuvered the Republicans again.
The union donates to the politician and the politician makes sure the union gets more money which is donated to the politician who makes sure the union gets more money……ad infinitum.
yep
The minority party can’t be blamed for this
Tell that to the Dems when they control the narrative and the media!
To he11 with your bosses. The hard-working men and women of the rail freight unions say they’re being shafted, just as the hard-working men and women of America are being shafted by this Administration.
The Strike Is Not simply about “ lack of paid sick time or improve working conditions.” That’s the mainstream media tag line. It’s much more like: “Underlying Issues and problems not addressed. The rail industry is in a state of crisis. This tentative agreement does nothing to address nor rectify the underlying causes of worker disillusionment and dissatisfaction with their working conditions. Short staffing, long hours, harsh attendance policies, poor scheduling practices, a lack of time off work, and a generally inferior quality of work life would continue under this contract if ratified. Vote NO!”
Don’t rely on major media talking points, read it for yourself here on the Union website: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/RWU-ALERT—Vote-No-.html?aid=DgRFZzwDwFw&soid=1116509035139
Sounds like Dagny Taggart has left the building.
And she’s taking a lot of us with her!
“Short staffing, long hours, harsh attendance policies, poor scheduling practices, a lack of time off work, and a generally inferior quality of work life would continue under this contract if ratified. ”
Well, there’s always Barber College.
Dalton
Or learning to code.
My husband was a union contractor. The lies that constantly came out of the union were just crap. Lies galore.
There was a story link on Citizens Free Press this morning to a David Blackmon article on the topic. (blackmonsubstack.com/p/looming-rail-strike-complicates-biden) This is one of the most informative pieces I have seen on the diesel shortage and high prices.
What would Ronald Reagan do? Think air traffic controllers …
Reagan replaced striking controllers with the military for a time. PATCO didn’t do themselves any favor by striking on the eve of the ending of the largest airshow in the world at Oshkosh right when everyone was departing. The airport was backed up for many hours and people were extremely unhappy. Very bad optics.
My point is that PATCO made a tactical error, imo, in their strike target and timing and they never came back from what they were. I’m hoping the same doesn’t happen again in this situation.
PATCO was public sector union representing federal employees ..Federal employees are prohibited by law to strike ..that strike was illegal ..
The railroad is a private company the unions representing the workers are private sector unions they all have the right to strike ..the government needs to but out
Working under the Railway Labor Act does not allow a strike unless released by the NRLA that’s controlled by, Brandon. The Act affects railroads and airlines.
This reminds me of Uncle Joe in Petticoat Junction
And here’s Uncle Joe, he’s moving kinda slow, at the junction.
After the unprecedented events since Dec 2019, are the Elites trying to rebuild prosperity…?
Why is there a rail strike in Australia + one looming in the US at the same time the Dutch are attacking its farm production in a time of shortages + riots are spreading across China…?
Is the Covid death rate far higher in China? Why have they been locking down whole cities for months over a virus with a 99.x% survival rate?
The CCP has been working very hard to —— cause an uprising…
The Dutch Gov is — trying to cause an uprising…
The Australian Government has been following the CCP on Covid to build toward an uprising…
Drag Queen Story Hours + Rail Strikes + purposeful skyrocketing of energy costs + more are all aiming to — increase discontent until the people can’t take it anymore…
—In 1989 in Beijing, near the end, the bulk of the protesters in Tiananmen Square had left. The student leaders had been in talks to let the rest leave but the Military was blocking it. Why? Because the CCP wanted a demonstration of its dominance.
The massacre was orchestrated when it could have been prevented…
After the slaughter in front of the world, the CCP spent months rounding up dissidents + disappearing them. It was a key part of the regime surviving as Communism crumbled in the rest of the world…
— We are in a global regime change operation.
They are priming the masses for an uprising.
Hidden from sight for now, they will have waiting forces + mechanisms they’ve built up to use against the masses once unrest has reached a certain point.
The events right now in China + Australia + the US + Netherlands are not happening in isolation.
The Great Reset is real.
If you can admit it, it looks much like what went on in numerous societies that have been toppled in the past…
“ Hidden from sight for now, they will have waiting forces + mechanisms they’ve built up to use against the masses once unrest has reached a certain point.”
For example, we are seeing unveiled in Ukraine + a little elsewhere — the state of the art of contemporary warfare — with the news items about – drone swarms…
The CCP has already unveiled drones patrolling cities + using loud speakers to threaten citizens not complying with Gov edicts. Robot dogs doing the same. + more…
The future the Elites have been preparing for is coming out of the shadows.
It’s so comforting to know that those killer robots can’t be hacked……oh, wait.
Control the food, control the people.
Turning on his union base already ? It’s almost like he is not worried about votes.
The Railway Labor Act is controlling this issue. I worked under it for thirty five years before retiring a decade ago.
The RLA makes strikes an illegal job action unless you are released to do so by the National Labor Relations Board that is controlled / populated by The President of the US. If illegal work stoppages are sanctioned by the Union, the Union leaders can be jailed.
Either, Biden wants this strike to happen or he’s anti-Union to the point where he’ll sacrifice them to claim a reason for Nationalizing both the railroads and airlines.
And over a century ago Woodrow Wilson nationalized the railways in December 1917. He also was later incapacitated with his wife running things behind the scenes. Isn’t that curious?
I also expect the nationalizing will occur as part of the planned path of the communism they all so admire at the WEF.
so China Joe bragging about being our “union guy” when in reality, he’s just a nutless wonder like the rest of them.
Maybe they should just create a single “Labor Party” and outlaw all other unions. Because this was the tactic a certain totalitarian government employed almost a century ago, so it would seem somewhat apropos their disciples used it again, like they’ve employed so many other of that regimes methods.
A 24% raise is totally outrageous. The legislation we need is to outlaw unions all together. The only thing unions are good for these days is to make workers less productive and everything cost more. Yes there was a time unions were needed but that was 40 years ago. For the good of the country, unions need to go.
Do you know they will get no social security . They have had no raise in years while our wages have !
Spouse worked for the P Company years and years and years ago. Upon retirement, he DID get a small railroad benefit check which ended promptly when he passed.
As an ex union rep? What you have described is exactly what unions have become. About 80% of the workers in my plant were lazy and useless, yet they made the same hourly rate as I and other good hard workers did. If you were a “good hard worker” you got extra crappy jobs cause the company knew you’d get it done. While the lazy do nothings did nothing but take up space.
I had the honor being a union rep of escorting a person out who somehow managed to get fired along with 2 management reps! It was really something explaining to that person that they had done something almost impossible “got fired” in a union shop. I would smile at them and tell them you’re really special! As they walked out past the two police cars to the parking lot. The police were always there to assure that nobody went “postal”.
They haven’t had a raise since 2018. The contract expired in 2019. 24% doesn’t hardly cover inflation since then.
Railroads should treat their drivers and track maintenance workers like minor gods – because you cannot run a railroad without these two groups of people always being at the top of their game. Instead, they are consistently underpaid and overworked. These people have very legitimate requests which the companies should be eager to accommodate.
Horrifying!
Imagine, though, as a union worker, being willing to shut down the entire U.S. economic engine and cause untold billions of $$ damage to businesses, industries, hospitals, individuals, etc., just to get what you want.
It seems to me that Old Potato Head should be willing to do what Reagan did to the ATC union. He should tell them that they’d better not strike and that if they did, he’d de-certify the unions and jail all those who encouraged the strike and then make sure every RR worker who went on strike would lose their pension and never work on the RR again. But, alas, he’s a potato head so he’s stuck on stupid.
One faction’s traitor is anothers patriot. It all depends which side of the war one is on.
Decertifying and turning Branch 4 loose on the humans would be a godsend. We know exactly who those humans are and can use them as bait to take out Branch 4 operatives. Figure a Florida kiddie porn bust once a week where we know who the pornographer is. That cooked up a bunch of fan belt inspectors. Epic body bag count for one incident. Make it happen every week.
That’ll get their attention. Then we’ll have a real war on our hands which is where this needs to go anyway. All this dicking around is getting nowhere, just extending suffering for infinity. Rip the bandaid off.
Old Joe has no authority to force these people to work . Joetatoe has no control over their pensions either . Good luck finding replacement workers I. This age .
24% raise? Sign the contract. Just go to work on time every day and do your job. It’s called “WORK” They already have without this raise a very good pay rate and retirement and benefit package! Seems to me they are just lazy and want more money for doing less. I was union for 30years and the higest raise I got was 6% one time for a 5 year contract in the 70’s. The worst was a 1% raise in the 5th year of a 5 year contract in the early 90’s.
Hunter Biden must have a new job in the railroad industry; probably for Warren Buffett. I smell a new laundry operation. 24% is outrageous; meant to rub noses in it like Obama would do!
Maybe we need the railroad to shut down. It might be the ONLY thing that wakes people up to what is going on. If we don’t have a revolution like brazil soon, this country is lost, plain and simple!
He stiffed people on loan forgiveness, now he is going to stiff the union with his commie take it and like it BS when the pretending stops when the fire starts.
What’s wrong with blue collar workers leveraging temporary market power to achieve a 24% pay increase?
“DON’T give the railroad workers improved sick pay. I want my freight trains being operated by sick people” – Joe Biden (sarcasm)
Let Congress critters drive the trains themselves. (But first, major drug and alcohol testing required).
When you stop and think that these are the people who are driving that miles-long train at eighty miles an hour down a main-line track, and without whose services your railroads would not exist, I really don’t understand why the railroads did not simply grant their requests – and don’t do so now. It’s not like they can’t afford it … They’re just being stubborn, short-sighted and foolish. Just give these people what they’re asking for: they’ve earned it.
Or, The Plan requires a major railroad strike and they are simply going through the motions and no amount of application of reason and sense will stop what they intend to do to us.
If a railroad strike is the worst thing they could do at this moment, then a railroad strike is what they’ll do.
I don’t believe not one word these abominations speak, they can’t do the right thing.
My husband used to own a grain elevator in rural Kansas and 95% of all grain in the US is moved by railcar. Human and animal food supplies will be greatly impacted by a rail strike, especially in the winter when cattle, hogs, sheep and goats are all needing protein supplements for the cold weather.
Exactly. It’s a really really bad time to cut off supplies.
This is part of the NWO plan to destroy this country.
The rail unions (not government run) have a lot of legitimate points when it comes to this contract negotiation.
But the Xiden administration is pretending to try to save the country by ‘solving’ the negotiation problem. They will not.
Instead of solving the contract negotiation problems, they will actually make sure the rail strike happens. By refusing to listen to the rail workers, a true legitimate strike will be used by the NWO to destroy our economy. Of course, they will blame conservatives for it.
What the NWO puppets do not understand, it will also affect them.
Where is Pete, The Transportation Secretary – isn’t this supposed to be his wheelhouse? Like most of Biden’s appointee’s (Cackling Kamala who has never been to the border; Janet Yellen, who doesn’t recognize the definition of a”Recession” that has been accepted for the last 50 years;Mayorkus, who I am sure has fostered a new college drinking game- take a swig everytme he says “The Border is secure”) he is an empty suit……. Worst Administration in my lifetime!
IDK, is he still lactating?
He’s taking this monthly week off on Menstrual Leave.
FJB
Let the country work it out without making it a Federal Case.
My guess is the rail workers will tell Congress and Biden to pound sand.
He should fix his own mess, apart from the diapers of course.
Love how she says “no poison pills” essentially admitting that all
Bills normally have poison pills.
I learned that many trains now are well more than a mile long and some are even THREE miles long! The railroad companies want to save money so they have a strong desire to staff the trains as minimally as possible. Even two engineers on a train 1-3 miles long is insufficient, there’s no way they can reasonable inspect the train. I read that the railroad companies want to have ONE engineer on the trains now. Just one person. Imagine one person being responsible for a train 3 miles long. There’s also increased risk of derailment, more grade crossings being blocked, and other issues.
Didn’t Below Average Joe actually DRIVE a train? He claimed he did anyway so I don’t see what the big deal is. Joe knows these people; he’s one of them, and he’s totally a union guy. Did he say he was in a bunch of unions and was even the head of one? I don’t know about that, but he’s probably said it at some time in his 50+ year life of lies.
“…giving America’s families confidence in our commitment to protecting their financial futures.”
she’s kidding, right?
It’s amazing that she is able to say such things when she knows a big portion of the country is bearing the brunt of the Dems’ tanking economy.
If it will wreck the economy, Biden and Pelosi must secretly be all for it.
Whatever you think you or the federal workers unions have in benefits or perks, these guys have them in spades. Solid platinum. They truly have the American economy by the cojones
(you can forget the airlines or any of the private shipping concerns). These guys can kill (economically speaking of course) without blinking.
This is a typical Dem tactic, set it up so that if the GOP doesn’t follow along then the Dems can blame the GOP.
“With no poison pills or changes to the negotiated terms…”
Why does that sound like “the safest most secure elections”….
“With no poison pills or changes to the negotiated terms…”
With the minor exception of MILLIONS to the teachers union and maybe 50 BILLION more to Ukraine….
A Railroad Exec. in DC in September stated: ” Labor, does not contribute to profits.” I guess we will find out, if he is right.
Where did is Pete Buttigeig? Isn’t transportation supposed to be his balliwick? He wasn’t smart enough to anticipate that there would be a shortage of Baby formula , and now when railroads are going to strike before the holidays he is nowhere to be found. Have even the Democrats realized that he is an empty suit?