Dec 1, 2022·edited Dec 1, 2022Liked by Robert Reich
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?
All the railroad people asking for are 4 sick days and they are denied? I don’t blame them. They are human being with human illnesses, family obligations etc. --why are treated as less than human? Shame on you Warren Buffet and the rest of you for denying these people the basics of any descent society!!
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!
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.
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!
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.
Dec 1, 2022·edited Dec 1, 2022Liked by Robert Reich
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.
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.
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?
The one thing you need to know about the railroads
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?
All the railroad people asking for are 4 sick days and they are denied? I don’t blame them. They are human being with human illnesses, family obligations etc. --why are treated as less than human? Shame on you Warren Buffet and the rest of you for denying these people the basics of any descent society!!
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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?