• @[email protected]
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    6 days ago

    How are 10% less raise than they asked for, 1 additional day off instead of 15, and the inability to say no or continue striking to be “nearly all” of their demands???

    This Reuters article frames my issues with this event in the clearest possible way.

    https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-signs-bill-block-us-railroad-strike-2022-12-02/

    “It was tough for me but it was the right thing to do at the moment – save jobs, to protect millions of working families from harm and disruption and to keep supply chains stable around the holidays,” Biden said, adding the deal avoided “an economic catastrophe.”

    “That fight isn’t over,” Biden said of the push for sick leave.

    Biden’s focus on was on the economic impact going into the holiday shopping season, not the best interest of the workers. So he inserted himself to make sure that, qualitative demands be damned, there wouldn’t be an interruption to the flow of commerce.

    I wouldn’t have been so upset at the outcome if the workers who didn’t agree were prevented from continuing to voice their displeasure. It reeks of “shut up, take this handout which is peanuts compared to your original demands, and get back to work.”

    And the most substantive demands revolving around healthcare coming out of a pandemic were almost totally ignored. This is something a corporate administration does, not one who is looking out for the people, or concerned for worker’s rights.

    Biden ran on affordable healthcare for all, and when he had the opportunity to provide even a tiny example of that, he prioritized economics over wellbeing for the people.

    It sums up most of Biden’s term: too little, too late. Nothing fundamentally changed.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      6 days ago

      How are 10% less raise than they asked for,

      They received a 38% total raise when their initial demand was for 31%.

      1 additional day off instead of 15,

      7 was the initial demand in the negotiations with the railroads; 1 was the initial result, later increased to 4 plus 3 paid personal leave days after an attempt to force the full 7 through Congress was defeated by the GOP.

      and the inability to say no or continue striking to be “nearly all” of their demands???

      What the ever-loving fuck do you think unions coming to an agreement with the employers results in, if not an agreement to not continue the strike??

      Jesus fucking Christ.

      Any observers, feel free to downvote me for committing the crime of stating facts that don’t fit the narrative, I understand that the urge to blindly bleat the talking points of favorite media bubbles, a la conservatives with Fox News, is impossible to resist.

      • @[email protected]
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        6 days ago

        See the source in my previous comment. The 31% increase was a total over a period of 5 years (so in 2027 any workers left will get that amount), the jump from 1-4 days off came after Biden’s involvement concluded and yes, the original request was for 15 days off. 7 is less than half of 15.

        To answer your question, the unions eventually accepted these terms, but the bill signed by Biden prevented workers from being able to strike again on this issue. This, coupled with the lack of their requested sick time and 5 year waiting period for their agreed upon raise, made clear the focus was on getting the workers back to work, rather than actually addressing their grievances. In short, nothing fundamentally changed. They were just told to go back to work.

        Once again, how is this “nearly all” of their demands?

        • @[email protected]OP
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          6 days ago

          See the source in my previous comment.

          The wiki article doesn’t say what you think it does. I’m not entirely sure, for that matter, what you think it says; you seem to be projecting a fantasy narrative onto it with no relation to the text therein. mea culpa, confused with a user in a higher-level comment.

          The 31% increase was a total over a period of 5 years (so in 2027 any workers left will get that amount),

          The Unions’ proposals include a 5-year wage proposal seeking an increase of 31.2% when compounded,

          The new contract [ie the one negotiated by Congress and the Biden admin] contains an immediate 14% wage increase and 24% salary increase over five years, plus one day of paid leave per year.

          (that second one is your own source, since you apparently declined to read it) mea culpa, confused with a user in a higher-level comment.

          came after Biden’s involvement concluded

          https://www.axios.com/2023/02/09/white-house-biden-administration-railroad-companies-paid-sick-leave

          and yes, the original request was for 15 days off.

          Would you like to back this up with a source?

          • @[email protected]
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            6 days ago

            What wiki article? My source was Reuters.

            Regardless, all I can only comment on is my own take of the situation. And that take is his priorities conflicted with his campaign promises. This makes it harder to give my vote to future campaign promises by other candidates of the same political party.

            • @[email protected]OP
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              46 days ago

              Regardless, all I can only comment on is my own take of the situation. And that take is his priorities conflicted with his campaign promises. This makes it harder to give my vote to future campaign promises by other candidates of the same political party.

              Look man, if it’s generic Dem ghoul vs. generic GOP ghoul, vote how you want. It’s a bit shitty, but the level of harm reduced by the Dem is minimal.

              But we were facing up against a literal Nazi openly-promising a Nazi future in 2024, who had proved his ardent desire to be a Nazi cunt in his first administration and openly promised to be worse in every way in his second administration. “The Dems need to give me a candidate I LIKE, or else marginalized groups can get genocided for all I care” is not a responsible and moral civic position. There are times when voting for shitty candidates is necessary - like when there’s a credible threat of literal fucking Nazis.

              • @[email protected]
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                6 days ago

                For the record, I have voted D for every election that Trump has been on the ballot.

                I 100% get what you’re saying, but 2/3 times that ended up being a waste of a vote.

                Republicans vote Republican because they like what the Republican party does. Democrats vote Democrat either because they like what the Democratic Party does, or because of the Republican on the ballot. I’m simply refusing to allow my vote to continue to be held hostage under threat of a fascist that wins anyway. Anything else legitimizes the threat and perpetuates the 2 party system.

                That isn’t to say I will no longer vote Democrat, I’m just not going to play into their narrative of “we’re less evil than the other guys” anymore when they fumble at every opportunity to fulfill their promises to their progressive base, while also refusing to change tactics and instead double down on trying to appeal to Republican-lites when it is made clear THAT is why they lost the election. The Overton window can only shift so much before you start realizing you don’t actually have a choice.

                I have never voted for someone because I like their platform, and I want to dammit. If a Democrat wants my vote, they’re going to campaign on a platform I like, and will not get it for any other reason. They have scared me into giving me their vote and failed to deliver on their promises every single time.

                • @[email protected]OP
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                  46 days ago

                  I have never voted for someone because I like their platform, and I want to dammit. If a Democrat wants my vote, they’re going to campaign on a platform I like, and will not get it for any other reason.

                  Again, “Blue Circus isn’t entertaining enough, so minorities like you can fuck off and die” is not a moral position and I’m not going to fucking pretend that it is. You can be upset all you want, but you have genocide on your hands if you enable Nazis like that going forward.

                  • @[email protected]
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                    6 days ago

                    That’s a vast oversimplification of what I stated but you do you.

                    I’m a minority, my family members are minorities, and just because this country doesn’t actually allow us to have a decent choice of candidate doesn’t mean I’m enabling nazis by refusing to choose which elite to fuck us over for another 4 years.

                    “I will continue to vote for the candidate that more closely aligns with my progressive policy stances and doesn’t want minorities to fuck off and die, rather than be scared into voting for the lesser evil which probably still wants us to fuck off and die” is my point, which is much different than what you just said.