Contrast this to what has been happening the UK over the past few months.
Remember, the UK was the birthplace of both railroads (including the Stephenson Gauge for the width between rails in most counties) and many notions of U.S. capitalism.
The U.K. has seen multiple short rail worker strikes in the past several months over somewhat similar issues to what we have in the U.S. The strikes have not been general strikes but periodic work stoppages, which create havoc with schedules, and are finally disrupting profits of the for-profit operators.
Guess what? The rail companies are stating to come to table. The process is working without heavy-handed government interference. Maybe the "magic of the market"?
One a side note, let's not forget that HUGE subsidies were given to the U.S. railroads in the 1800s in terms of alternating sections land and section towns every few miles. The land was taken from the Native Americans, given to railroads, and then in large part sold off through developers. The railroads have also been bailed out several times in U.S. history with rescue packages, debt relief, exclusive rights of way protection, and regulated freight rates.
And they still cannot come to taking care of the people who work for them?
The small British strikes would be called "wildcat strikes" here. (Maybe there too.) But I suspect that if one occurred here it would be supported by other unions and become more generalized. This might happen.
No, they’re not wildcat strikes. Not in Britain (or France). But I hope you’re right about what might happen here, however disastrous for the economy. It cannot be OK for our elected government to sacrifice basic human needs to “The Economy.” We are not expendable—we’re the whole point.
So maybe people are going to have to go to jail--as people have to defend indigenous lands and waters from pipelines and stripmining. The railroad workers have ways to pressure Biden, and that would make a hell of a point!
Randy, if the bill is not passed by the Senate, railroad unions need to together figure out how to respond. They should accept nothing less than the original contract plus at least 7 days of paid sick leave and guarantees on penalty of massive fines for the railroad corporations if fired or in any way punished for taking that paid leave. Yo Republicans, you whine loudly that you stand with working families. It's time you actually prove it.
Repubs never will, and sadly neither will the center of the Dems. Abhorrent actions on the side of this administration. This is a C.y.a. Move if there ever was one! This is really the first time since Joe Amtrak has been pres that I’m entirely pissed off!
I think it's more complicated than that. These unions are doing collective bargaining.
The Railway Labor Act (RLA) has governed collective bargaining between rail carriers and labor unions since 1926. I didn't work for the Department of Transportation, rather DOL which was mediating, https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/osec/osec20220915
I heard many cases under the Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA). When railroad employees think they have a safety issue, they can file a claim that will be investigated by OSHA The law states in part: (b) Hazardous safety or security conditions.--
(1) A railroad carrier engaged in interstate or foreign commerce, or an officer or employee of such a railroad carrier, shall not discharge, demote, suspend, reprimand, or in any other way discriminate against an employee for--
(A) reporting, in good faith, a hazardous safety or security condition;
(B) refusing to work when confronted by a hazardous safety or security condition related to the performance of the employee's duties, if the conditions described in paragraph (2) exist; or
(C) refusing to authorize the use of any safety-related equipment, track, or structures, if the employee is responsible for the inspection or repair of the equipment, track, or structures, when the employee believes that the equipment, track, or structures are in a hazardous safety or security condition, if the conditions described in paragraph (2) exist.
(2) A refusal is protected under paragraph (1)(B) and (C) if--
(A) the refusal is made in good faith and no reasonable alternative to the refusal is available to the employee;
(B) a reasonable individual in the circumstances then confronting the employee would conclude that--
(i) the hazardous condition presents an imminent danger of death or serious injury; and
(ii) the urgency of the situation does not allow sufficient time to eliminate the danger without such refusal; and
(C) the employee, where possible, has notified the railroad carrier of the existence of the hazardous condition and the intention not to perform further work, or not to authorize the use of the hazardous equipment, track, or structures, unless the condition is corrected immediately or the equipment, track, or structures are repaired properly or replaced.
If “precision scheduling” has led to litigation, the reporting doesn't disclose it. More likely, the issue is whether crew size is the main issue at bargaining. In another life, we had the same issues in other industries, i.e. class sizes in education.
I remember the "fireman" position was "featherbeded" after steam trains became obsolete.
Your naivete astounds me Solomon. Profiteers become unscrupulous wealth-hoarders precisely BECAUSE they disregard the rule of law, BECAUSE they use their obscene wealth to purchase political puppets to protect their PROFITS OVER PEOPLE.
I beg you, please, to turn your eye away from failed legislation meant to protect the general welfare, and instead study the conditions under which a constitutional-composing forefather would declare:
When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object (gerrymandering, insider-trading, lobby corrupting-bribes) evinces a design to reduce them (tax-paying citizens, working class) under absolute Despotism, it is their right, IT IS THEIR DUTY, to throw off such Government. -Thomas Jefferson
5 TOP-DOWN remedies
1) dismantle electoral college system and replace with 'one citizen-one vote' system - no districts, no gerrymandering, no systemic-rooted oppression (NO small-town gets a louder voice/bigger vote to strangle & mute the TRUE majority)
2) strictly enforce a ban of every form of lobbying - aka corruption - all the way from campaign donation purchasing of offices, to 'have a lobbyist draft self-interest-legislation while purchased-putz-politicians are sent to 'fund-raise.' Side-bar: strip corporations of person‐hood and remove the veil/cloak of secrecy!!!
3) strict term limits for every public office - at every level from city to federal - to deter career-criminal corruption; change apointee-positions to citizen-elected positions
4) impose 20% flat tax with ZERO loophole-legislation; tax ALL passive income at truman/eisenhower 50-90% levels; prosecute ALL tax dodgers with no chance to plea down or fractional-fine their way out of it
5) once all the money that is being off-shore-siphoned out of OUR economy is restored, single-payer, social medicine should be implemented, over-seen by an uncorrupted government, by the people, for the people.
If these sound like fore-fathers level, radical thinking, revolutionary ideals, you are ready to organize and mobilize. All we need are civil rights level leadership that rivals Dr. MLKJr and Malcolm X. Let's get busy.
It won’t let me highlight the heart, but I really liked your remark. If we had universal childcare we could increase workers, then we need mandatory paid maternity/paternity leave, mandatory paid sick leave, mandatory paid vacation minimal requirements for all jobs. Many jobs have no paid sick leave. Most restaurant jobs don’t have paid sick leave so the people making and serving your food are often working sick, does that make any sense. I am hopeful that we will see a change from a growth and profit model to a model that takes the well being of workers as the first priority. It may be a long shot considering the nature of our species, but we could evolve. We’ll see
Susan, I applaud your zeal but dispute some of your points. 1. Is not possible. We are governed (or supposed to be) by the Constitution pf the United States of America. Article 1, section II, paragraph 3 sets out the regulations for the Electoral College; therefore the only way to get rid of the Electoral College is with a Constitutional Amendment requiring acquiescence of 2/3 of both houses AND ratification of 3/4ths of the States, meaning 38 States must ratify, Good luck with that.
3. Strict term limits. We enacted that in California. Guess what, we now have legislation by lobbyists instead of elected representatives because it takes time for an elected official to learn the ropes of the position, by that time they have a few months before the term is up. We're better off with a concerned electorate voting out unqualified legislators. 4. Flat tax is very unfair. Look at sales tax (which is certainly flat) it harms people at the bottom of the income ladder far more than those at the top - who often buy wholesale, not subject to sales tax, or out of country. Plus they spend far less percentage of their income on taxable goods (those on which they actually pay sales tax) than Joe Blow making $20,000 a year or less. So 20% of $20,000 is $4,000; that hurts way more than 20% of 200 million or even 2 billion. I agree with 2 and 5, but for the other three, be careful what you wish for, you may get it.
The railroads' enemies are not really labor. It's the automotive/trucking industry.
Most of the time, I was a mediator. Transactional analysis. Only 2 parties at the table.
Unions know that ALL the jobs are vulnerable, given new technology. Owners know that they'd rather use humans -- especially if the employees add value to their businesses. Both owners and labor know that driverless trucks, drone delivery, etc are coming.
How many rail firemen are still working? Ans. None.
The whistle blower act you speak of has been gutted and disciplined employees are rarely successful in court unless dismissed for reporting a safety issue. That my friend is from 2 FELA attorneys unwilling to take whistle blower cases unless an employee was fired.
None of that is relevant to the case at hand. This is about new attendance policies that effectively reduce exhausted employees to 1-3 days off a month. We are exhausted and need time off. Crew size is not part of this round of negotiations. Please refer to PEB 250.
I am 72 years old. As a kid every time I visited my grandmother and aunt we had to wait on trains. We would count the cars and wave at the conductors. I have not seen a train in my part of town for 30 years. I live in Tampa, Fl. We had trains all over the city. Now most run late at night if at all. My great uncle was an engineer on a train.
Because unfortunately, the current government favors corporate medicine and, despite several promises and multiple opportunities, dems don't seem interested in getting it passed when they have the majority position the last few decades.
we enacted term limits in Missouri in 1992 and our experience has been the same as California.anyway,I'd rather shoot for things that are achievable that are steps in the right direction.
Daniel, good information. I am thinking those are pretty severe standards a worker must meet before questioning the job or refusing to do it. Any time life threats are the standard, a boss or someone else can come along and say "what do you mean? There's no threat to life here." We have seen that operating lately in hospitals where women have to be bleeding nearly to death before they can receive treatment because well, the precious fetus is still evident. The boss will not be the one who dies. Then, there's the question of the stress of being on call 24/7. There is no evidence that shows this is good for anyone, yet the railroad operators are OK with it while they hired fewer and fewer workers forcing those they had on the payroll to do more and more work with less and less support. If there are no regulations to stop this, there should be and the workers are right to strike or do whatever they need to, to change it, and We the People need to be behind their decision, even if it means some economic hardship.
Sorry but rail employees have rights that most others don't have E.G. FELA. Federal Employers Liability Act of 1908 — a federal statute that provides for a liberalization of the rules for determining tort liability applicable to the liability of railroads to their employees for personal injury (PI). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Employers_Liability_Act
There is also an entire body of employee protections. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Railroad_Administration The Federal Transit Administration provides financial and technical assistance to local public transit agencies, including local rail operators not regulated by the FRA (subway, elevated rail, and light rail).
In 2016 under Obama the FRA proposed a rule to mandate train crew sizes but under Trump the agency withdrew the rule in 2019 stating "that no regulation of train crew staffing is necessary or appropriate for railroad operations to be conducted safely at this time." This was in part due to the improving safety record for rail and also the implementation of PTC across nearly 60,000 route miles of track.
So when you make me your king, I'd set rules. SCOTUS has limited agencies' powers lately, so don't hold your breath.
It's good to know that the Feds have made it a bit easier for railroad employees to sue the employer who maimed them and destroyed their quality of life. Now that's progress !
Thanks Daniel for this further edification However, laws, rules, and regulations only work if they are rigorously enforced, and correctly interpreted by the bureaucrat accepting the complaint. As a former board of directors member, I can assure you this is not usually the case. In California we have the Fair Housing and Employment Office, (How the legislators managed to tie fair housing and fair employment together in one agency is a total mystery). In filing an employment complaint you HOPE you get a bureaucrat with employment law experience, and not one whose expertise is housing, tenancy and ownership which is entirely separate. Unfortunately who you actually see is the luck of the game.
Thank you for making this clear. You did a much better job of it than I ever could. These negotiations are going along the process proscribed in the RLA in 1026. It's not a made up process as the media would have you believe. The RLA was written the way it is in fact, to prevent a labor strike that would wreak havoc on the Nation's economy.
There must be standards such as limits to how long employees must work during a stretch or over a 1 or 2 week period, with the ultimate result of more railroad workers being hired. Even those 7 days off are not enough. It should be double that. This is not only for the employees' health, but also public safety. You don't want tired, overworked railroad engineers driving a train.
I understand what you're saying, Ruth. But, a good Union would provide attorneys to word the complaint in such a way that it would pass. Which is why I question the validity of the unions for allowing this situation to exist.
I think workers would have problems proving that de-staffing trains, being on call for long periods, and lack of sick leave are ' a hazardous safety or security condition'.
But not if the union got them a good psychologist or psychiatrist and a good lawyer. They could even do a class action suit. There is a reason for not allowing transportation workers to be on duty exceeding 9 hours. Sleep deprivation makes any human being dangerous behind a heavy instrument, more so if it is mobile.
I did not have total jurisdiction, limited to whistleblowing However I could approve a "global" agreement that might cover FRA, FELA, and even PI cases occasionally. In a settlement none of the parties object.
From what you posted earlier the Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA) also appears relevant. Examples of big corporations getting away with fines so small that they consider them acceptable costs of doing business rather than consequences that would result in them changing their policies or behavior are too numerous to count.
Thank you, Daniel. Surely the Union leadership should be aware of the RLA, why aren't these unions encouraging the employees to file these claims? I can understand that the employees themselves, may not be aware of this act, management frequently avoids informing employees of any rights they may have. This is a large part of the problem of 'Union Busting' The union leadership lives in fear of losing their position if the employer (government or public) dismantles them. We can all give thanks to Ronnie baby for starting this tearing apart of unions. The teachers union, of which I was on the Board of Directors for several years was strong, we retained a good working environment because we could use the threat of strikes if the School Board attempted to reduced benefits or increase class size. On the other hand the County union, on which I was also a member of the Board of Directors, had very weak leadership who were 'in bed with' the County Board of Supervisors and frequently sold the rights of workers, especially as regards to benefits, down the tubes.
Doug, thanks for your description of what is happening in UK. I have seen little gratitude on the part of any corporations over time for the many many concessions made for them as well as the bailouts, ignoring of criminal activities on the part of the owners, and so much more. They see that as their being smarter than everyone else because they got away with something. We the People have a little sympathy for the medical workers who during COVID were on call all the time despite appalling working conditions, but rarely if ever thought of people like railroad workers and the unacceptable conditions they have been working under the whole time. Since they were invisible and came to notice only because of the threat of a strike, the American people are angry at the idea of supposedly losing 2 billion dollars a day (sounds like a made-up number to scare people into doing whatever the railroad corporations want). Maybe it's time the railroad worker unions seriously consider what would be their best way to get what they need, decent paid sick leave and better schedules, as well as more workers to share the load - strike, stop work actions, or something else. Sorry shareholders (even if I am one - I don't know) take the hit while pressuring the corporation to do better by the workers. It's time!
I agree; I'll take the hit too. And I'm struggling financially and it would be difficult to face even more shortages. But if it means some engineer can get to the hospital when he needs it without losing his job, I'll accept the hardship.
I will long remember the comment made by the Orange Sadist during his candidacy: "Not paying taxes makes me SMART! Right?!" and the crowd just cheered and cheered. I couldn't believe how anyone could be so stupid as to cheer at that statement -- let alone a thousand people.
Daniel, I got it, but don't understand with all the regulation, how the workers can be experiencing so much that is unacceptable related to working conditions and leave. This should be able to be fixed.
Have not come far and the robber barons have come full circle in 140 odd years. Good Lord! How does this continue to happen?
History just seems to repeat the lessons we are supposed to learn from! Perhaps because nobody reads history. Perhaps we’ve poisoned the historical well. The real power brokers study history incessantly so as to bring about the same historical results! That’s the reason we have to study history folks! We have to stop them from repeating the same scenarios which put them in power. The American Experience is repeat in repeating ancient power games. These elites are very good at history! It’s their lifeblood! Otherwise, how would they know how to manipulate the populace? It’s like a deadly serious ballgame in which we are the Brooklyn Dodgers and they are the mighty New York Yankees. We are locked in a deadly mortal combat with all those well researched and well strategized elites who know their game very well while we do not even know what the game is. They play multi-level chess while we play checkers. They play with real kings and bishops and real knights and we play with facsimiles of those key players. We play for pennies and they play for billions! The current railroad crisis is but another example of the common persons fight to stay alive using moral grounds as currency against real dollars and a-morality as currency on the other side. We the people need to know the real history instead of an idealized and sanitized history written by the elite class to placate our stilled voices. The real history my friends!
The problem is that all politicians feed at the same trough of wealthy donors. Those who try to effect change are mercilessly ridiculed by the GOP and mainstream media, which incessantly uses GOP-framing as the basis for every political story.
Biden's position will seal his fate with labor unions, and he can wave goodbye to a 2nd term. Lincoln was willing to lose the support of half the country to free those who couldn't even vote for him. Biden's not willing to lose the holiday economic news cycle to protect the lives of RR workers.
To teach real history is to include the writings of Karl Marx aka El Diablo. I'm not confident that real teaching of history will happen in public schools in the USA.
I find it sadly hilarious that, just as children are taught that water will seek its own level, they are not taught that wages will sink until legislation intervenes.
Absolutely on the nail! And the same history applies to almost all sectors of employment across the last 30 years, including even what we would normally consider middle-class professions such as university teaching.
We are told that bankers deserve bonuses in the order of 500,000+++ for their contribution to economic growth, but no one mentions teachers deserving bonuses for their contribution. All neo-liberal capitalists foster the idea that the rich owe nothing to the state or to the population at large, as if the entire economy would run fine if no one had an education, no one drove the ambulances to take them to hospital when they crashed their car, etc. etc. It is time to promote realisation that we all contribute, and we all deserve fair shares. Today's economic ideology does not begin to consider such arguments.
I hate the use of the term neo-liberal. We know what that means but the Rethuglicans look at it and only see liberal. Be clear that the blame goes to MAGA, Republicans, corporate politicians or right-wingers. I also don’t call the R Cult Conservative, they are nothing of the kind! Words are important. No one knows this better than RepubliCons.
Absolutely, and it’s reflected in the support of so many incredibly stupid and hateful elected officials With obviously nefarious agendas getting elected. The fact that someone like Trump could even get elected speaks volumes about people in this country.
And if they are razor thin, cheating is quite easy. The mid-terms were a disappointment to me. Battling alternate reality is almost impossible. The propaganda feed must be penalized. The intentional lies have resulted in harm & even death. This is supposedly illegal on radio, why not on ANY media…TV especially!
It’s time to stop pretending terroristic talk and lies are part of free speech.
Jo, Yes, even 12 people voting for trump is disturbing! It said a lot about the mental state of people in this country and the danger of allowing lies and conspiracy non-sense on rt-wing media. They encourage hatred and violence to the cult with all the guns.
Not just ignorance. Remember that the Mother Culture of the USA is steeped in violence. Consider what's unfortunately become the national sport, football. This is a sport in which players receive head injury and then sue their employer for creating an unsafe environment. Consider popular entertainment: I know people who get upset if I make fun of the macho persona of John Wayne, who spent World War 2 on movie sets "wearing makeup," as Dalton Trumbo, one of the Hollywood 10, remarked. Until we evolve away from a tooth-and-nail culture, our so-called leaders will continue to drive wages and benefits to zero. (Yes, I know: pro football players make plenty of income.)
Boxing and football should be banned by law. 45 retired pro football players were asked if they would allow their kids to play football and to a man they said absolutely not. Out of the mouths of pros. Good to see soccer catching on.
Kay Ann, It makes sense to me. Republicans are not interested in an educated society. They want a brain-washed one. They never fund public education but want us to donate our tax dollars for their religious training.
What? The days off were the best part of it. Reminds me of how the best part of the ACA, the public option, was the first to go, & how we ended up with just a skeleton of the Build Back Better bill. Actually, this is the consistent history of Democratic legislation over the years.
It’s the dumbing down of society in general that has been the neo liberal goal for the past 40 years. Thom Hartman had an excellent article on this several days ago.
Yes, I read it. His one on Tuesday (I think) about religious extremists & billionaires corrupting our democracy & creating an ever growing, already record, wealth gap, where most of us have no power & little money, with virtually no prospects for a better life, losing our rights, is well worth reading.
I believe we are an exception among nations on how our government & society regard teachers. Many other societies, especially in Asia, honor teachers & place them as high as doctors, remunerating them accordingly.
This is what happens when corporate greed is held above everything else in the country. Even the most well meaning politicians are forced to bow to whatever whims these corporations have.
We’ve talked about a windfall profits tax on oil companies, but it needs to extend to every single huge corporation that engages in these self serving activities.
The government is treating railroad workers like slaves. Biden is in the untenable situation of being pressured to abandon his support for labor because the holiday season is upon us and a railroad strike would hurt a lot of people ; consumers and businesses alike. Striking is the only leverage they have. But expecting people to work under the circumstances you describe is slavery. I say "damn the torpedoes" and strike! We had Ronald Reagan and the air traffic controllers travesty. The greedheads must be put in their place! Holidays be damned! this is America ; Land of the free and home of the brave! I can do without a few things to prevent oppression. Shareholders are not that important; or at least they should not be. Let THEM run the damned trains!
Great comment, Laurie! I feel this way too. I never knew just how bad things were until I read this piece, I’m embarrassed to say. This was truly eye-opening and I wish it was published smack on the front page of a few of the major newspapers in this country…
This essay by Professor Reich sums up exactly what is happening and how the railroad owners are the definition of corporate greed itself. So many other businesses behave in exactly the same manner by hiring only part-timers, paying minimum wage and not including any benefits. It’s atrocious, as you know.
Yes, unfair to the point of being atrocious! Unsustainable. What are the shareholders waiting for? A scandal involving deaths of sickened workers denied medical access and rest? Accidents? Greed is ugly, and should not prevail. Especially during religious holidays!!!
Laurie, I agree. It’s time for us to be willing to make small sacrifices to help support these workers. I’m sure Biden advisors are telling him that a disaster at holiday time will not be good, but he can speak to the nation and tell us why he will support better conditions for working people, no matter the political cost.
As has been pointed out already. Losing huge political donors makes our politicians walk on a tightrope sometimes.
Biden got to be president, he should now be willing to be a hero to HIS base.
SeekingReason ; well said! The greedheads not only want to cruelly exploit the workers, but make President Biden look like a hypocrite. If he stands against the wrongs foisted on these railroad workers, he will be a hero, as you said!
You can do it, and we all can do it -- HOWEVER, we both know who will get blamed for the whole thing: the Democrats. As you say, Biden is between the devil and the deep blue sea.
The Railroads have bought enough Members of Congress and Senate with campaign contributions to Get what Railroads want.
It goes back beyond 100 years when Lawyers friendly to Companies we’re appointed to the Supreme Court decided companies and corporations have the same rights as CITIZENS and are Citizens under the Federal Law.
This is consistent with the pro-Slavery rulings the Supreme Court. I mention Dread Scott etc true legal scholars can name a lot more pro slavery Supreme Court Rulings than I.
All that’s changed since the Abolishment of Slavery is end of the Plantations and the rise of the Factories .
Now instead of going to sleep in a plantation setting we now have the ability to work for federal minimum wages that won’t allow a person to be anything but a New Kind of Slave a WAGE SLAVE.
Wow. This is the first time I have understood what the issue is in the rail strike. To my knowledge, none of the MSM has presented the workers' case. All I've heard is that a rail strike is going to hurt "us", with the implication that the workers are lazy and selfish to be doing this to the rest of us. You are the first person to explain the human dimension of this problem. How is it legal for people to work fulltime for a large corporation and NOT be entitled to a full week of paid sick leave? I thought that was the law. And are not these workers entitled to FMLA? Perhaps the issue is that they would not be paid during this time, which would endanger their financial situation. It is extremely upsetting to hear how NO one with power seems to be on the side of the workers, not even Joe Biden. Are those days are gone? Is President Biden's current actions b/o pressure on Democrats by the Right?
It is valuable to hear the facts from a highly intelligent and compassionate former Labor Secretary.
"Yet now the Biden administration and Congress are siding with the railroads and against workers — arguing that the public interest demands it."
In the short term, with the current state of the not-quite-post-pandemic economy, this is clearly true.
But when one says "Congress," it should be clear that, left to their own devices, the ideal bill for Democrats likely would include relief from management's relentless expolitation and abuse of labor to generate those record, unjustifiable profits. As always, it's primarily Republicans stnading in the way of even the most marginally enlightened legislation.
Were I in Congress, I'd have introduced an amendment to the bill that -- in the event of a rail accident resulting loss of life or severe injury to rail workers, passengers or those along the right of way affected by such an accident resulting from understaffing and/or fatigue on the part of overworked rail workers -- exposes the offending company to automatic civil actions and makes its top officers criminally liable.
THAT might nudge the railroad companies to place more labor-friendly policies ahead of their shareholders' dividends.
Nice amendment! Your post reminded me of the Philadelphia train wreck two or three years ago. The engineer apparently fell asleep and the (passenger) train accelerated into a curve. You have to wonder what his work requirements were and how they played into the wreckage.
So very disappointing to see the Dems side with the railroads. We all need to contact Biden and our Democratic legislators to whom we contributed and and for whom we voted and let them know how we feel.
As an electrical engineer, I tend to regard problems with a technical perspective.
Let’s dispense with the human element and treat each railway worker as a “unit.”
This may seem inhumane, but bear with me.
Any parts which have a mean-time-before-failure (MTBF) must necessarily have a maintenance schedule and regular replacement well in advance of that figure.
This requires a certain amount of redundant parts to ensure that the replacements are available whenever and wherever they are required.
Each part is capable of putting up with a certain amount of abuse; the more you load it, and the longer you rely on it under peak load, the shorter the MTBF becomes and the more “spares” you require. Units included.
If sound engineering principles are not followed in this regard, then the system is uninsurable.
Based on this analysis, David, which certainly has insight, how do policy makers in our Congress and those advising the President equitably solve this railroad situation? I concur with Robert’s elucidating economic analysis. Your insurance model is intriguing, and IMH experience has merit. Fascinating when you know, too, that the reinsurance industry (being multinational) has some hand in these decisions. What does this robust discussion suggest in helping many people who are stuck in these terrible Damocles choices every day? They face whether to quit and what does the family do, to object and get fired and maybe reputationally destroyed, to continue and become (more) severely injured, or horrendously injure others.
Just like with climate change, it’s time for better, more efficient rational risk analysis. The narrow views of the “rent seekers” destroys the common good, and will likely destroy their inefficient companies in the end. Our civic duty must be that those narrow/-minded Scrooge ideas are tempered by seeking the common good in our public AND private policies.
Part of the problem I fear is that the rail industry treats these human-factors solutions as all-or-nothing, when they are in fact gradualist.
Other transportation industries (airlines for example) have implemented changes in their operating network for small segments of their market, and only after a number of successes attempted universal acceptance of the modified practices.
In respecting the limitations of the human body, you are also respecting both the proper design criteria and the Union interests.
I am not intimate with the insurance involvement in these matters, but I suspect they may be working against the best interests of the system as a whole.
I fear they may have simply charged astronomical premiums (which is what actuarial practices would recommend), thereby forcing the rail carriers to slash costs where they can in order to keep their stockholder margins intact.
The railway workers are the obvious victims of such a decision.
The railroad workers should tell the bosses to go s&@!w themselves and not show up for work anyway until they get sick days and reasonable schedules. Perfect time for a work stoppage--when it hurts.
I am Franco- American and have lived mostly all around the world but a good bit in Paris where strikes are frequent. My daughter currently studies in London where there have been a series of rail strikes recently. I understand that these strikes are the last resort for workers to get improved working conditions including increased salaries etc. In the US it seems that workers are treated so horribly, not given the human and humane consideration they deserve. I say strike strike strike. No worker ever got anything without a fight. Stop this endless greed from corporations. Respect workers, respect people’s rights as human being to have good lives and families and leisure time!
Prof. Reich: Thank you for defining the issue so clearly. I hope that in your next post you will offer your thoughts on why Democrats are caving into union busting at this level. Or, maybe you can make an exception to your usual practice and post a response to this comment.
This truly is puzzling. The only key outstanding election to be decided is that between Senator Warnock and Herschel Walker. Even if Walker wins -- which would admittedly be bad news for judicial appointments -- Democrats hold a slim majority. Unless Democrats have another move up their sleeve, Biden’s “battle for the soul of this country” has been surrendered by the Biden Administration.
If Democrats had refused to pass the House vote enforcing the railroad contract, what would the consequences be? Would the Republicans blame them for cratering the economy and causing a recession? Is that what they fear and why they are giving in to this, despite Pelosi’s trying to put the blame on Republicans for not passing the measure offering 7 days of sick leave?
This is terrifying. The conditions these workers are suffering under are cruel. My daughter is a nurse at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan and the nurses union is in the same situation with the Hospital corporation. The corporation wants to CUT everything, limit salaries, health care, leave and much more. PLUS they also keep the nurses short staffed to save money. There is a huge problem with morale and staffing in the hospital NOW. This is also a profession hemorrhaging workers. (granddaughter went to the children's hospital emergency room and waited 18 hours!) Life for Americans is becoming untenable in so many areas as the unabated power of the super rich run and ruin our lives. Elon Must is the poster boy for corporate greed, untethered to reality he's batshit crazy and ruthless and he and the other corporate titans run this country. This agreement for the railroad workers just passed the House and is not expected to pass the Senate (we'll see) because it is believed the Senate won't agree to the 7 days sick leave! If that happens whatever the Senate does Biden should NOT sign the bill that comes to his desk and the workers should find a way to walk off the job. At some point hospital workers are going to have to find a way to do that too, they're getting horribly treated, really screwed. The worst, worst, worst is....we are in a tightening stranglehold of corporate and plutocratic tyranny. THIS is authoritarianism, fascism and government is in lockstep. THIS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY. Biden and the Democrats, there ya go.
Contrast this to what has been happening the UK over the past few months.
Remember, the UK was the birthplace of both railroads (including the Stephenson Gauge for the width between rails in most counties) and many notions of U.S. capitalism.
The U.K. has seen multiple short rail worker strikes in the past several months over somewhat similar issues to what we have in the U.S. The strikes have not been general strikes but periodic work stoppages, which create havoc with schedules, and are finally disrupting profits of the for-profit operators.
Guess what? The rail companies are stating to come to table. The process is working without heavy-handed government interference. Maybe the "magic of the market"?
One a side note, let's not forget that HUGE subsidies were given to the U.S. railroads in the 1800s in terms of alternating sections land and section towns every few miles. The land was taken from the Native Americans, given to railroads, and then in large part sold off through developers. The railroads have also been bailed out several times in U.S. history with rescue packages, debt relief, exclusive rights of way protection, and regulated freight rates.
And they still cannot come to taking care of the people who work for them?
The small British strikes would be called "wildcat strikes" here. (Maybe there too.) But I suspect that if one occurred here it would be supported by other unions and become more generalized. This might happen.
No, they’re not wildcat strikes. Not in Britain (or France). But I hope you’re right about what might happen here, however disastrous for the economy. It cannot be OK for our elected government to sacrifice basic human needs to “The Economy.” We are not expendable—we’re the whole point.
Thank you. I especially like your closing comment on workers: "We are not expendable--we're the whole point." Amen!
If you organize a railroad wildcat strike the government can put you in jail. To me this is slavery. Are we men or mice.....squeak, squeak!
So maybe people are going to have to go to jail--as people have to defend indigenous lands and waters from pipelines and stripmining. The railroad workers have ways to pressure Biden, and that would make a hell of a point!
Randy, if the bill is not passed by the Senate, railroad unions need to together figure out how to respond. They should accept nothing less than the original contract plus at least 7 days of paid sick leave and guarantees on penalty of massive fines for the railroad corporations if fired or in any way punished for taking that paid leave. Yo Republicans, you whine loudly that you stand with working families. It's time you actually prove it.
The modern Republican Party, at least the Mitt MBA Romney, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan branch, is built on contempt for workers and service to capital.
Repubs never will, and sadly neither will the center of the Dems. Abhorrent actions on the side of this administration. This is a C.y.a. Move if there ever was one! This is really the first time since Joe Amtrak has been pres that I’m entirely pissed off!
hypocrites cannot be Shamed
and Disciples will not Listen
gotta somehow Reach
the rest we Need.
Good advice, Ruth
I think it's more complicated than that. These unions are doing collective bargaining.
The Railway Labor Act (RLA) has governed collective bargaining between rail carriers and labor unions since 1926. I didn't work for the Department of Transportation, rather DOL which was mediating, https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/osec/osec20220915
I heard many cases under the Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA). When railroad employees think they have a safety issue, they can file a claim that will be investigated by OSHA The law states in part: (b) Hazardous safety or security conditions.--
(1) A railroad carrier engaged in interstate or foreign commerce, or an officer or employee of such a railroad carrier, shall not discharge, demote, suspend, reprimand, or in any other way discriminate against an employee for--
(A) reporting, in good faith, a hazardous safety or security condition;
(B) refusing to work when confronted by a hazardous safety or security condition related to the performance of the employee's duties, if the conditions described in paragraph (2) exist; or
(C) refusing to authorize the use of any safety-related equipment, track, or structures, if the employee is responsible for the inspection or repair of the equipment, track, or structures, when the employee believes that the equipment, track, or structures are in a hazardous safety or security condition, if the conditions described in paragraph (2) exist.
(2) A refusal is protected under paragraph (1)(B) and (C) if--
(A) the refusal is made in good faith and no reasonable alternative to the refusal is available to the employee;
(B) a reasonable individual in the circumstances then confronting the employee would conclude that--
(i) the hazardous condition presents an imminent danger of death or serious injury; and
(ii) the urgency of the situation does not allow sufficient time to eliminate the danger without such refusal; and
(C) the employee, where possible, has notified the railroad carrier of the existence of the hazardous condition and the intention not to perform further work, or not to authorize the use of the hazardous equipment, track, or structures, unless the condition is corrected immediately or the equipment, track, or structures are repaired properly or replaced.
https://www.whistleblowers.gov/statutes/frsa
If “precision scheduling” has led to litigation, the reporting doesn't disclose it. More likely, the issue is whether crew size is the main issue at bargaining. In another life, we had the same issues in other industries, i.e. class sizes in education.
I remember the "fireman" position was "featherbeded" after steam trains became obsolete.
Your naivete astounds me Solomon. Profiteers become unscrupulous wealth-hoarders precisely BECAUSE they disregard the rule of law, BECAUSE they use their obscene wealth to purchase political puppets to protect their PROFITS OVER PEOPLE.
I beg you, please, to turn your eye away from failed legislation meant to protect the general welfare, and instead study the conditions under which a constitutional-composing forefather would declare:
When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object (gerrymandering, insider-trading, lobby corrupting-bribes) evinces a design to reduce them (tax-paying citizens, working class) under absolute Despotism, it is their right, IT IS THEIR DUTY, to throw off such Government. -Thomas Jefferson
5 TOP-DOWN remedies
1) dismantle electoral college system and replace with 'one citizen-one vote' system - no districts, no gerrymandering, no systemic-rooted oppression (NO small-town gets a louder voice/bigger vote to strangle & mute the TRUE majority)
2) strictly enforce a ban of every form of lobbying - aka corruption - all the way from campaign donation purchasing of offices, to 'have a lobbyist draft self-interest-legislation while purchased-putz-politicians are sent to 'fund-raise.' Side-bar: strip corporations of person‐hood and remove the veil/cloak of secrecy!!!
3) strict term limits for every public office - at every level from city to federal - to deter career-criminal corruption; change apointee-positions to citizen-elected positions
4) impose 20% flat tax with ZERO loophole-legislation; tax ALL passive income at truman/eisenhower 50-90% levels; prosecute ALL tax dodgers with no chance to plea down or fractional-fine their way out of it
5) once all the money that is being off-shore-siphoned out of OUR economy is restored, single-payer, social medicine should be implemented, over-seen by an uncorrupted government, by the people, for the people.
If these sound like fore-fathers level, radical thinking, revolutionary ideals, you are ready to organize and mobilize. All we need are civil rights level leadership that rivals Dr. MLKJr and Malcolm X. Let's get busy.
It won’t let me highlight the heart, but I really liked your remark. If we had universal childcare we could increase workers, then we need mandatory paid maternity/paternity leave, mandatory paid sick leave, mandatory paid vacation minimal requirements for all jobs. Many jobs have no paid sick leave. Most restaurant jobs don’t have paid sick leave so the people making and serving your food are often working sick, does that make any sense. I am hopeful that we will see a change from a growth and profit model to a model that takes the well being of workers as the first priority. It may be a long shot considering the nature of our species, but we could evolve. We’ll see
Lofty thoughts. I LOVE your instincts!
if only
the reptilian brain stem's
Influence might be Reduced
perhaps we too might have Nice Things.
and yeah Susan's
comment Rocked.
Susan, I applaud your zeal but dispute some of your points. 1. Is not possible. We are governed (or supposed to be) by the Constitution pf the United States of America. Article 1, section II, paragraph 3 sets out the regulations for the Electoral College; therefore the only way to get rid of the Electoral College is with a Constitutional Amendment requiring acquiescence of 2/3 of both houses AND ratification of 3/4ths of the States, meaning 38 States must ratify, Good luck with that.
3. Strict term limits. We enacted that in California. Guess what, we now have legislation by lobbyists instead of elected representatives because it takes time for an elected official to learn the ropes of the position, by that time they have a few months before the term is up. We're better off with a concerned electorate voting out unqualified legislators. 4. Flat tax is very unfair. Look at sales tax (which is certainly flat) it harms people at the bottom of the income ladder far more than those at the top - who often buy wholesale, not subject to sales tax, or out of country. Plus they spend far less percentage of their income on taxable goods (those on which they actually pay sales tax) than Joe Blow making $20,000 a year or less. So 20% of $20,000 is $4,000; that hurts way more than 20% of 200 million or even 2 billion. I agree with 2 and 5, but for the other three, be careful what you wish for, you may get it.
Yes, a concerned and informed electorate is imperative. Too much learned helplessness in this society. Too much apathy.
Irrelevant BS. All of this as a phony "fight."
The railroads' enemies are not really labor. It's the automotive/trucking industry.
Most of the time, I was a mediator. Transactional analysis. Only 2 parties at the table.
Unions know that ALL the jobs are vulnerable, given new technology. Owners know that they'd rather use humans -- especially if the employees add value to their businesses. Both owners and labor know that driverless trucks, drone delivery, etc are coming.
How many rail firemen are still working? Ans. None.
they have two guys working
miles-long trains but they wanna
make it One guy. this seems Insane.
The whistle blower act you speak of has been gutted and disciplined employees are rarely successful in court unless dismissed for reporting a safety issue. That my friend is from 2 FELA attorneys unwilling to take whistle blower cases unless an employee was fired.
None of that is relevant to the case at hand. This is about new attendance policies that effectively reduce exhausted employees to 1-3 days off a month. We are exhausted and need time off. Crew size is not part of this round of negotiations. Please refer to PEB 250.
They got a 24% increase + 1 day. The rest remains in bargaining.
Most cases are settled. Whistleblowers are successful when they hire lawyers who are competent. Read this for yourself. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/oalj/PUBLIC/WHISTLEBLOWER/REFERENCES/CASELISTS/FRSLIST0
I read through a few of the examples you provided and in each the claimant lost. They were not protected
I am 72 years old. As a kid every time I visited my grandmother and aunt we had to wait on trains. We would count the cars and wave at the conductors. I have not seen a train in my part of town for 30 years. I live in Tampa, Fl. We had trains all over the city. Now most run late at night if at all. My great uncle was an engineer on a train.
Brilliant comment.
but why Wait to fully
fund Medicare for all?
Because unfortunately, the current government favors corporate medicine and, despite several promises and multiple opportunities, dems don't seem interested in getting it passed when they have the majority position the last few decades.
yep. sad. and Yes we DO need
Firebreathing Progressives to stir
up the Populace . the Overton Window
on M4A likely includes Many trumpf voters &
after all we elected Roosevelt four fucking times.
we enacted term limits in Missouri in 1992 and our experience has been the same as California.anyway,I'd rather shoot for things that are achievable that are steps in the right direction.
Daniel, good information. I am thinking those are pretty severe standards a worker must meet before questioning the job or refusing to do it. Any time life threats are the standard, a boss or someone else can come along and say "what do you mean? There's no threat to life here." We have seen that operating lately in hospitals where women have to be bleeding nearly to death before they can receive treatment because well, the precious fetus is still evident. The boss will not be the one who dies. Then, there's the question of the stress of being on call 24/7. There is no evidence that shows this is good for anyone, yet the railroad operators are OK with it while they hired fewer and fewer workers forcing those they had on the payroll to do more and more work with less and less support. If there are no regulations to stop this, there should be and the workers are right to strike or do whatever they need to, to change it, and We the People need to be behind their decision, even if it means some economic hardship.
Sorry but rail employees have rights that most others don't have E.G. FELA. Federal Employers Liability Act of 1908 — a federal statute that provides for a liberalization of the rules for determining tort liability applicable to the liability of railroads to their employees for personal injury (PI). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Employers_Liability_Act
There is also an entire body of employee protections. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Railroad_Administration The Federal Transit Administration provides financial and technical assistance to local public transit agencies, including local rail operators not regulated by the FRA (subway, elevated rail, and light rail).
In 2016 under Obama the FRA proposed a rule to mandate train crew sizes but under Trump the agency withdrew the rule in 2019 stating "that no regulation of train crew staffing is necessary or appropriate for railroad operations to be conducted safely at this time." This was in part due to the improving safety record for rail and also the implementation of PTC across nearly 60,000 route miles of track.
So when you make me your king, I'd set rules. SCOTUS has limited agencies' powers lately, so don't hold your breath.
Again, this is the summary of rail employees "hours of service." https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/hours-service/summary-hours-service-regulations
It's good to know that the Feds have made it a bit easier for railroad employees to sue the employer who maimed them and destroyed their quality of life. Now that's progress !
That system goes back a long way. Railroading is a dangerous job.
Thanks Daniel for this further edification However, laws, rules, and regulations only work if they are rigorously enforced, and correctly interpreted by the bureaucrat accepting the complaint. As a former board of directors member, I can assure you this is not usually the case. In California we have the Fair Housing and Employment Office, (How the legislators managed to tie fair housing and fair employment together in one agency is a total mystery). In filing an employment complaint you HOPE you get a bureaucrat with employment law experience, and not one whose expertise is housing, tenancy and ownership which is entirely separate. Unfortunately who you actually see is the luck of the game.
Thank you for making this clear. You did a much better job of it than I ever could. These negotiations are going along the process proscribed in the RLA in 1026. It's not a made up process as the media would have you believe. The RLA was written the way it is in fact, to prevent a labor strike that would wreak havoc on the Nation's economy.
There must be standards such as limits to how long employees must work during a stretch or over a 1 or 2 week period, with the ultimate result of more railroad workers being hired. Even those 7 days off are not enough. It should be double that. This is not only for the employees' health, but also public safety. You don't want tired, overworked railroad engineers driving a train.
I guess you missed: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/hours-service/summary-hours-service-regulations
Not nearly enough
I understand what you're saying, Ruth. But, a good Union would provide attorneys to word the complaint in such a way that it would pass. Which is why I question the validity of the unions for allowing this situation to exist.
I think workers would have problems proving that de-staffing trains, being on call for long periods, and lack of sick leave are ' a hazardous safety or security condition'.
But not if the union got them a good psychologist or psychiatrist and a good lawyer. They could even do a class action suit. There is a reason for not allowing transportation workers to be on duty exceeding 9 hours. Sleep deprivation makes any human being dangerous behind a heavy instrument, more so if it is mobile.
Most of the time both sides have good lawyers.
I did not have total jurisdiction, limited to whistleblowing However I could approve a "global" agreement that might cover FRA, FELA, and even PI cases occasionally. In a settlement none of the parties object.
What good is all of that if these laws are not enforced meaningfully?
Who says they aren't? This is a collective bargaining issue.
From what you posted earlier the Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA) also appears relevant. Examples of big corporations getting away with fines so small that they consider them acceptable costs of doing business rather than consequences that would result in them changing their policies or behavior are too numerous to count.
Thank you, Daniel. Surely the Union leadership should be aware of the RLA, why aren't these unions encouraging the employees to file these claims? I can understand that the employees themselves, may not be aware of this act, management frequently avoids informing employees of any rights they may have. This is a large part of the problem of 'Union Busting' The union leadership lives in fear of losing their position if the employer (government or public) dismantles them. We can all give thanks to Ronnie baby for starting this tearing apart of unions. The teachers union, of which I was on the Board of Directors for several years was strong, we retained a good working environment because we could use the threat of strikes if the School Board attempted to reduced benefits or increase class size. On the other hand the County union, on which I was also a member of the Board of Directors, had very weak leadership who were 'in bed with' the County Board of Supervisors and frequently sold the rights of workers, especially as regards to benefits, down the tubes.
They are filing. This is a collective bargaining dispute.
Doug, thanks for your description of what is happening in UK. I have seen little gratitude on the part of any corporations over time for the many many concessions made for them as well as the bailouts, ignoring of criminal activities on the part of the owners, and so much more. They see that as their being smarter than everyone else because they got away with something. We the People have a little sympathy for the medical workers who during COVID were on call all the time despite appalling working conditions, but rarely if ever thought of people like railroad workers and the unacceptable conditions they have been working under the whole time. Since they were invisible and came to notice only because of the threat of a strike, the American people are angry at the idea of supposedly losing 2 billion dollars a day (sounds like a made-up number to scare people into doing whatever the railroad corporations want). Maybe it's time the railroad worker unions seriously consider what would be their best way to get what they need, decent paid sick leave and better schedules, as well as more workers to share the load - strike, stop work actions, or something else. Sorry shareholders (even if I am one - I don't know) take the hit while pressuring the corporation to do better by the workers. It's time!
I agree; I'll take the hit too. And I'm struggling financially and it would be difficult to face even more shortages. But if it means some engineer can get to the hospital when he needs it without losing his job, I'll accept the hardship.
I will long remember the comment made by the Orange Sadist during his candidacy: "Not paying taxes makes me SMART! Right?!" and the crowd just cheered and cheered. I couldn't believe how anyone could be so stupid as to cheer at that statement -- let alone a thousand people.
Guess you missed the fact that they are heavily regulated.
Daniel, I got it, but don't understand with all the regulation, how the workers can be experiencing so much that is unacceptable related to working conditions and leave. This should be able to be fixed.
Just a collective bargaining issue.
Who is regulating whom?
Very well said Dr Doug. I have been following news of the UK rail strikes as well.
Cheers and 5 stars for this reminder of all the "welfare" benefits given to Corporate Railroads. Thank you Dr, Gilbert.
Have not come far and the robber barons have come full circle in 140 odd years. Good Lord! How does this continue to happen?
History just seems to repeat the lessons we are supposed to learn from! Perhaps because nobody reads history. Perhaps we’ve poisoned the historical well. The real power brokers study history incessantly so as to bring about the same historical results! That’s the reason we have to study history folks! We have to stop them from repeating the same scenarios which put them in power. The American Experience is repeat in repeating ancient power games. These elites are very good at history! It’s their lifeblood! Otherwise, how would they know how to manipulate the populace? It’s like a deadly serious ballgame in which we are the Brooklyn Dodgers and they are the mighty New York Yankees. We are locked in a deadly mortal combat with all those well researched and well strategized elites who know their game very well while we do not even know what the game is. They play multi-level chess while we play checkers. They play with real kings and bishops and real knights and we play with facsimiles of those key players. We play for pennies and they play for billions! The current railroad crisis is but another example of the common persons fight to stay alive using moral grounds as currency against real dollars and a-morality as currency on the other side. We the people need to know the real history instead of an idealized and sanitized history written by the elite class to placate our stilled voices. The real history my friends!
The problem is that all politicians feed at the same trough of wealthy donors. Those who try to effect change are mercilessly ridiculed by the GOP and mainstream media, which incessantly uses GOP-framing as the basis for every political story.
Biden's position will seal his fate with labor unions, and he can wave goodbye to a 2nd term. Lincoln was willing to lose the support of half the country to free those who couldn't even vote for him. Biden's not willing to lose the holiday economic news cycle to protect the lives of RR workers.
Money IS our political system. That’s the biggest part of our problems.
It is one hand clapping: "Atlas Shrugged".
To teach real history is to include the writings of Karl Marx aka El Diablo. I'm not confident that real teaching of history will happen in public schools in the USA.
I am confident that the real teaching of history will NOT happen in public schools in the USA.
I find it sadly hilarious that, just as children are taught that water will seek its own level, they are not taught that wages will sink until legislation intervenes.
Marx should be taught and debated in history class at the college level.
Well said Stephen. Capitalism is cyclical. That’s why we never overcome recessions. The system is failing but politicians will never admit to that.
Very well expressed.
Absolutely on the nail! And the same history applies to almost all sectors of employment across the last 30 years, including even what we would normally consider middle-class professions such as university teaching.
Exactly. We even have professional people like doctors burning out and feeling dissatisfaction. Something's gotta give.
We are told that bankers deserve bonuses in the order of 500,000+++ for their contribution to economic growth, but no one mentions teachers deserving bonuses for their contribution. All neo-liberal capitalists foster the idea that the rich owe nothing to the state or to the population at large, as if the entire economy would run fine if no one had an education, no one drove the ambulances to take them to hospital when they crashed their car, etc. etc. It is time to promote realisation that we all contribute, and we all deserve fair shares. Today's economic ideology does not begin to consider such arguments.
I hate the use of the term neo-liberal. We know what that means but the Rethuglicans look at it and only see liberal. Be clear that the blame goes to MAGA, Republicans, corporate politicians or right-wingers. I also don’t call the R Cult Conservative, they are nothing of the kind! Words are important. No one knows this better than RepubliCons.
I agree. I use terms like corporatist, fascist, authoritarian & barbarist to describe Republicans, not conservative or neoliberal.
&
Fran
Kluntz.
because an ignorant citizenry
is so much easier to control?
Absolutely, and it’s reflected in the support of so many incredibly stupid and hateful elected officials With obviously nefarious agendas getting elected. The fact that someone like Trump could even get elected speaks volumes about people in this country.
Jo, Trump did NOT get elected. He was SELECTED. Hillary won by almost 3 million votes.
That was a race that shouldn’t even have been close (even tho popular vote wasn’t) as all the races we are seeing that are razor thin.
And if they are razor thin, cheating is quite easy. The mid-terms were a disappointment to me. Battling alternate reality is almost impossible. The propaganda feed must be penalized. The intentional lies have resulted in harm & even death. This is supposedly illegal on radio, why not on ANY media…TV especially!
It’s time to stop pretending terroristic talk and lies are part of free speech.
True, but 7 million still voted for him. The problem is with the electoral college.
Jo, Yes, even 12 people voting for trump is disturbing! It said a lot about the mental state of people in this country and the danger of allowing lies and conspiracy non-sense on rt-wing media. They encourage hatred and violence to the cult with all the guns.
Not just ignorance. Remember that the Mother Culture of the USA is steeped in violence. Consider what's unfortunately become the national sport, football. This is a sport in which players receive head injury and then sue their employer for creating an unsafe environment. Consider popular entertainment: I know people who get upset if I make fun of the macho persona of John Wayne, who spent World War 2 on movie sets "wearing makeup," as Dalton Trumbo, one of the Hollywood 10, remarked. Until we evolve away from a tooth-and-nail culture, our so-called leaders will continue to drive wages and benefits to zero. (Yes, I know: pro football players make plenty of income.)
were we more like France
instead of profootball
we'd be cheering on
our favorite POLS.
we're watching
the Wrong
Channel.
Boxing and football should be banned by law. 45 retired pro football players were asked if they would allow their kids to play football and to a man they said absolutely not. Out of the mouths of pros. Good to see soccer catching on.
Or, rather, making up the people who control the jobs and money.
Kay Ann, It makes sense to me. Republicans are not interested in an educated society. They want a brain-washed one. They never fund public education but want us to donate our tax dollars for their religious training.
he signed it but
the Days Off
didn't quite
Make it.
you Blew the Call
Smokin' Joe.
What? The days off were the best part of it. Reminds me of how the best part of the ACA, the public option, was the first to go, & how we ended up with just a skeleton of the Build Back Better bill. Actually, this is the consistent history of Democratic legislation over the years.
It’s the dumbing down of society in general that has been the neo liberal goal for the past 40 years. Thom Hartman had an excellent article on this several days ago.
Yes, I read it. His one on Tuesday (I think) about religious extremists & billionaires corrupting our democracy & creating an ever growing, already record, wealth gap, where most of us have no power & little money, with virtually no prospects for a better life, losing our rights, is well worth reading.
Thom Hartmann ROCKS.
.https://www.thomhartmann.com/
I believe we are an exception among nations on how our government & society regard teachers. Many other societies, especially in Asia, honor teachers & place them as high as doctors, remunerating them accordingly.
whereas We Reward the Profiteers
Honoring them with magnificent
Propaganda Machines and
Insisting on bearing their
tax burdens and clean-
ing up their highly
Toxic Wastes. my
oh my how
Generous
we are!
Always prioritizing the short term profits of corporations over all other considerations, including the survival of life on this planet.
capitalism, like
"republicans" is
always Down for
'a little' Overreach
& they'll be Finished
when OUR Biosphere is.
.
Mother Nature
gets no Vote?
WTFF?
I wonder what Bernie Sanders' prescription would be. Maybe America needs a "Labor Party"!
This is what happens when corporate greed is held above everything else in the country. Even the most well meaning politicians are forced to bow to whatever whims these corporations have.
We’ve talked about a windfall profits tax on oil companies, but it needs to extend to every single huge corporation that engages in these self serving activities.
The government is treating railroad workers like slaves. Biden is in the untenable situation of being pressured to abandon his support for labor because the holiday season is upon us and a railroad strike would hurt a lot of people ; consumers and businesses alike. Striking is the only leverage they have. But expecting people to work under the circumstances you describe is slavery. I say "damn the torpedoes" and strike! We had Ronald Reagan and the air traffic controllers travesty. The greedheads must be put in their place! Holidays be damned! this is America ; Land of the free and home of the brave! I can do without a few things to prevent oppression. Shareholders are not that important; or at least they should not be. Let THEM run the damned trains!
Great comment, Laurie! I feel this way too. I never knew just how bad things were until I read this piece, I’m embarrassed to say. This was truly eye-opening and I wish it was published smack on the front page of a few of the major newspapers in this country…
This essay by Professor Reich sums up exactly what is happening and how the railroad owners are the definition of corporate greed itself. So many other businesses behave in exactly the same manner by hiring only part-timers, paying minimum wage and not including any benefits. It’s atrocious, as you know.
Yes, unfair to the point of being atrocious! Unsustainable. What are the shareholders waiting for? A scandal involving deaths of sickened workers denied medical access and rest? Accidents? Greed is ugly, and should not prevail. Especially during religious holidays!!!
Laurie, I agree. It’s time for us to be willing to make small sacrifices to help support these workers. I’m sure Biden advisors are telling him that a disaster at holiday time will not be good, but he can speak to the nation and tell us why he will support better conditions for working people, no matter the political cost.
As has been pointed out already. Losing huge political donors makes our politicians walk on a tightrope sometimes.
Biden got to be president, he should now be willing to be a hero to HIS base.
At this stage of his political career, he shouldn't be answering to corporate donors.
So true. Jaime!
SeekingReason ; well said! The greedheads not only want to cruelly exploit the workers, but make President Biden look like a hypocrite. If he stands against the wrongs foisted on these railroad workers, he will be a hero, as you said!
You can do it, and we all can do it -- HOWEVER, we both know who will get blamed for the whole thing: the Democrats. As you say, Biden is between the devil and the deep blue sea.
You are right ; Sometimes it's hard to do the right thing. But it shows a person's true colors. No guts, no glory!
Our country is being railroaded by corporate greed! No pun intended. It’s the same old BS over and over!
The Railroads have bought enough Members of Congress and Senate with campaign contributions to Get what Railroads want.
It goes back beyond 100 years when Lawyers friendly to Companies we’re appointed to the Supreme Court decided companies and corporations have the same rights as CITIZENS and are Citizens under the Federal Law.
This is consistent with the pro-Slavery rulings the Supreme Court. I mention Dread Scott etc true legal scholars can name a lot more pro slavery Supreme Court Rulings than I.
All that’s changed since the Abolishment of Slavery is end of the Plantations and the rise of the Factories .
Now instead of going to sleep in a plantation setting we now have the ability to work for federal minimum wages that won’t allow a person to be anything but a New Kind of Slave a WAGE SLAVE.
Citizen J
Wow. This is the first time I have understood what the issue is in the rail strike. To my knowledge, none of the MSM has presented the workers' case. All I've heard is that a rail strike is going to hurt "us", with the implication that the workers are lazy and selfish to be doing this to the rest of us. You are the first person to explain the human dimension of this problem. How is it legal for people to work fulltime for a large corporation and NOT be entitled to a full week of paid sick leave? I thought that was the law. And are not these workers entitled to FMLA? Perhaps the issue is that they would not be paid during this time, which would endanger their financial situation. It is extremely upsetting to hear how NO one with power seems to be on the side of the workers, not even Joe Biden. Are those days are gone? Is President Biden's current actions b/o pressure on Democrats by the Right?
It is valuable to hear the facts from a highly intelligent and compassionate former Labor Secretary.
"Yet now the Biden administration and Congress are siding with the railroads and against workers — arguing that the public interest demands it."
In the short term, with the current state of the not-quite-post-pandemic economy, this is clearly true.
But when one says "Congress," it should be clear that, left to their own devices, the ideal bill for Democrats likely would include relief from management's relentless expolitation and abuse of labor to generate those record, unjustifiable profits. As always, it's primarily Republicans stnading in the way of even the most marginally enlightened legislation.
Were I in Congress, I'd have introduced an amendment to the bill that -- in the event of a rail accident resulting loss of life or severe injury to rail workers, passengers or those along the right of way affected by such an accident resulting from understaffing and/or fatigue on the part of overworked rail workers -- exposes the offending company to automatic civil actions and makes its top officers criminally liable.
THAT might nudge the railroad companies to place more labor-friendly policies ahead of their shareholders' dividends.
Nice amendment! Your post reminded me of the Philadelphia train wreck two or three years ago. The engineer apparently fell asleep and the (passenger) train accelerated into a curve. You have to wonder what his work requirements were and how they played into the wreckage.
So very disappointing to see the Dems side with the railroads. We all need to contact Biden and our Democratic legislators to whom we contributed and and for whom we voted and let them know how we feel.
As an electrical engineer, I tend to regard problems with a technical perspective.
Let’s dispense with the human element and treat each railway worker as a “unit.”
This may seem inhumane, but bear with me.
Any parts which have a mean-time-before-failure (MTBF) must necessarily have a maintenance schedule and regular replacement well in advance of that figure.
This requires a certain amount of redundant parts to ensure that the replacements are available whenever and wherever they are required.
Each part is capable of putting up with a certain amount of abuse; the more you load it, and the longer you rely on it under peak load, the shorter the MTBF becomes and the more “spares” you require. Units included.
If sound engineering principles are not followed in this regard, then the system is uninsurable.
Excellent analogy. Seems the RR’s are running towards eventual failure.
... which may include deaths of many passengers.
Based on this analysis, David, which certainly has insight, how do policy makers in our Congress and those advising the President equitably solve this railroad situation? I concur with Robert’s elucidating economic analysis. Your insurance model is intriguing, and IMH experience has merit. Fascinating when you know, too, that the reinsurance industry (being multinational) has some hand in these decisions. What does this robust discussion suggest in helping many people who are stuck in these terrible Damocles choices every day? They face whether to quit and what does the family do, to object and get fired and maybe reputationally destroyed, to continue and become (more) severely injured, or horrendously injure others.
Just like with climate change, it’s time for better, more efficient rational risk analysis. The narrow views of the “rent seekers” destroys the common good, and will likely destroy their inefficient companies in the end. Our civic duty must be that those narrow/-minded Scrooge ideas are tempered by seeking the common good in our public AND private policies.
Part of the problem I fear is that the rail industry treats these human-factors solutions as all-or-nothing, when they are in fact gradualist.
Other transportation industries (airlines for example) have implemented changes in their operating network for small segments of their market, and only after a number of successes attempted universal acceptance of the modified practices.
In respecting the limitations of the human body, you are also respecting both the proper design criteria and the Union interests.
I am not intimate with the insurance involvement in these matters, but I suspect they may be working against the best interests of the system as a whole.
I fear they may have simply charged astronomical premiums (which is what actuarial practices would recommend), thereby forcing the rail carriers to slash costs where they can in order to keep their stockholder margins intact.
The railway workers are the obvious victims of such a decision.
I gather from your analysis, that you believe we can apply those same principles on workers. That makes sense to me.
Precisely. Sometimes just moving beyond the warm and fuzzy human motifs is enough to make even CEO’s realize the error of their assumptions.
The railroad workers should tell the bosses to go s&@!w themselves and not show up for work anyway until they get sick days and reasonable schedules. Perfect time for a work stoppage--when it hurts.
If they want to get serious they should take a page out of the coal miner's playbook & call JOE MANCHIN (he can shut down the entire country!!)...
> = |
Except Joe Manchin would never side with workers. He needs the RR’s to move his dirty coal.
Are you referring to the obscene power he held during crucial votes in the past two years?
I am Franco- American and have lived mostly all around the world but a good bit in Paris where strikes are frequent. My daughter currently studies in London where there have been a series of rail strikes recently. I understand that these strikes are the last resort for workers to get improved working conditions including increased salaries etc. In the US it seems that workers are treated so horribly, not given the human and humane consideration they deserve. I say strike strike strike. No worker ever got anything without a fight. Stop this endless greed from corporations. Respect workers, respect people’s rights as human being to have good lives and families and leisure time!
Prof. Reich: Thank you for defining the issue so clearly. I hope that in your next post you will offer your thoughts on why Democrats are caving into union busting at this level. Or, maybe you can make an exception to your usual practice and post a response to this comment.
This truly is puzzling. The only key outstanding election to be decided is that between Senator Warnock and Herschel Walker. Even if Walker wins -- which would admittedly be bad news for judicial appointments -- Democrats hold a slim majority. Unless Democrats have another move up their sleeve, Biden’s “battle for the soul of this country” has been surrendered by the Biden Administration.
If Democrats had refused to pass the House vote enforcing the railroad contract, what would the consequences be? Would the Republicans blame them for cratering the economy and causing a recession? Is that what they fear and why they are giving in to this, despite Pelosi’s trying to put the blame on Republicans for not passing the measure offering 7 days of sick leave?
This is terrifying. The conditions these workers are suffering under are cruel. My daughter is a nurse at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan and the nurses union is in the same situation with the Hospital corporation. The corporation wants to CUT everything, limit salaries, health care, leave and much more. PLUS they also keep the nurses short staffed to save money. There is a huge problem with morale and staffing in the hospital NOW. This is also a profession hemorrhaging workers. (granddaughter went to the children's hospital emergency room and waited 18 hours!) Life for Americans is becoming untenable in so many areas as the unabated power of the super rich run and ruin our lives. Elon Must is the poster boy for corporate greed, untethered to reality he's batshit crazy and ruthless and he and the other corporate titans run this country. This agreement for the railroad workers just passed the House and is not expected to pass the Senate (we'll see) because it is believed the Senate won't agree to the 7 days sick leave! If that happens whatever the Senate does Biden should NOT sign the bill that comes to his desk and the workers should find a way to walk off the job. At some point hospital workers are going to have to find a way to do that too, they're getting horribly treated, really screwed. The worst, worst, worst is....we are in a tightening stranglehold of corporate and plutocratic tyranny. THIS is authoritarianism, fascism and government is in lockstep. THIS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY. Biden and the Democrats, there ya go.