The Teamsters union on Wednesday said polling shows most of its members back Republican former President Donald Trump’s bid for a new term in the White House over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
The 1.3 million-member union said its executive board plans to announce later on Wednesday who it is endorsing in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
The union said a national electronic poll of its members from July 24-Sept. 15 showed rank-and-file Teamsters voted 59.6% to endorse Trump compared with 34% for Harris.
And that temporary disaster would have forced permanent improvements to pay and working conditions. Some pain now, for gains later. That’s how most everything works.
Labor day is a holiday for all the people who died fighting for better working conditions.
Not everything.
On Feb. 8, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, wrote a letter to the leaders of six Class I railroads, urging them to guarantee at least seven paid sick days for all of their workers.
“Last year, the companies you lead made over $22 billion in profits,” Sanders wrote, noting that they had cut 30% of the workforce over the last six years. “Guaranteeing seven paid sick days to rail workers would cost your industry just $321 million.”
Russo is grateful that Sanders stepped in. “We truly compliment his effort to bring dignity to workers in the rail industry,” he said. “Without it, we very likely would not have gotten what we have gained today.”
The union and the railroad reached an agreement they both found acceptable.
The IBEW and BNSF Railway reached an agreement April 20 to grant members four short-notice, paid sick days, with the ability to also convert up to three personal days to sick days.
They asked for seven sick days, they got four plus three convertible personal days for an annual total of seven. That’s a reasonable compromise.
Yah. Eventually they got a raise, and 4 whole days of paid sick leave. They still work skeleton crews on unsafe trains, with no power over their own schedule.
Again. It’s not enough.
Rather than taking another several months it could have taken a few weeks, and they likely could’ve gotten much more.
So you’re not mad at Biden for continuing to work with the Union to get a deal both sides would find acceptable, you’re really mad at the union for voting to accept that particular deal?
