I'm beyond sick of his "I don't really know them" excuse.
It's what happens when even mainstream, non-Fox News media outlets perpetuate the "big cities are third world hellscapes" narrative. People are buying it.
I don't understand, what did you think Congress should have done?
Even if more than 50% like the deal, you'd still be in favor of a massively damaging strike that results in huge job losses and economic pain across the country.
Should have included the 7 day sick leave amendment in the bill. It realllly looks and sounds like Democrats/Biden do not want the railroad workers to have paid sick leave.
I guess the real question is why the railroad workers are being burdened with this decision, and why not the railroad barons? We can easily ask the the bosses and the railroad companies "why do you want to cause huge job losses and economic pain across the country" instead of the frontline workers being forced to work while sick.
Would that have gotten enough votes in House and Senate from the >50% GOP?
You keep saying "forced to work while sick". AFAICT, they can take unpaid days, for which a huge pay raise will be very helpful. I have read there are cases where people can be disciplined for taking days, I don't know the full story there.
Senate will probably vote on Bernie's amendment to do that (which will fail). If they took up a bill that already had that it would be stripped regardless so I don't understand what the alternative was there.
Possibly, if they struck it right. Decoupling it is just a way to drown it in a bathtub.
I highly doubt any of the railworkers will take unpaid days. They will come in to work while sick. Because, who wants to leave free money on the table? I don't.
If their work is as important as you say, the strike shouldn't last long and they'll get their sick pay.
The short answer is, Capitalism At Work. Sick Leave causes issues in shift schedules. We want to stretch the railroad workers thin by having them ready and on-call for the trains. The thing people should be mad about is, why aren't railroad companies hiring MORE workers to cover the shifts, but instead forcing the few workers to work without sickpay to cover each other's shifts?
nymag.com
Why would Railroad operators have to cave? They have the backstop of knowing that the federal government will step in. Unions will take the licking in public perception and I guarantee you preventing Unions from holding the country hostage will be a very popular platform for the GOP in the next election.
[1] Well that's not the same as "forced".
There are some pretty awful anecdotes about workers doing just that here:
nymag.com
Edit: I see you posted the same article 11 minutes ago! Serves me right for replying before getting through the thread. Well, it's a good article that I found very clarifying, so hopefully people read it.
Why this is so difficult for the thread in OT to understand is baffling to me. Even if Biden came out and strongly supported the workers' decision to strike, the end result would've been the same because still need 60 votes, right?
Then let Republicans be the bad guy? Why should Biden torch his relationship with Labor all on his own?
Yeah, I don't get it either.
I think you have WAY more faith that the average American will place the blame where it actually belongs than I do. In the same way huge numbers of people around the country blamed Biden directly for high gas prices and groceries and had his approval rating in the gutter, they would directly blame him if the economy implodes just before the holiday period if he had made himself the face of the strike.
Forced by circumstances, forced by situation, or even implicitly forced by the companies on penalty of discipline. Take your pick.
Yep, they support it on principle at first.
Or it can grow in support once you tell them what the details are. The poll did not even specify the issue for the strike - Paid Sick Leave.
If Biden let the strike happen they'd lose 2024 and I don't think even Trump's negativity would overcome just how sour the public would be towards him and the Dems.
Bet you anything that after a few weeks to a month of huge price increases and shortages the support would not grow.
He should have come out strongly for the people who voted for him because its the right thing to do, even if they can't get the votes and Congress passes this bill. People are not complete goldfishes and will remember when you stab them in the back. That's why this is a unforced error. The WH should not be leading this.
