On September 15, the United Auto Workers began a targeted strike against Ford, GM, and Stellantis (the conglomerate that includes Chrysler) in an effort to secure higher wages, a four-day work week, and other protections in the union’s next contract. The strike is a huge development for American workers, but it’s also a big deal for President Joe Biden—these car companies are central to his green-infrastructure agenda. The union wants assurances that the industry’s historic, heavily subsidized transition toward electric vehicles will work for them, too.
Biden, whose National Labor Relations Board has been an ally of labor organizers in fights against companies such as Amazon and Starbucks, has called himself “the most pro-union president in American history.” He has expressed support for the UAW’s cause (workers “deserve their fair share of the benefits they helped create,” he said last week) and has sent aides to Michigan to assist in the negotiations.
Didn’t he severely fuck the train workers unions a few months ago, or did I get that wrong?
The Biden Administration continued working on getting them their paid sick days.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/01/railroad-workers-union-win-sick-leave
A fraction of the paid sick days they were asking for, while also not meeting their other major demands at all. Ending Precision Scheduled Railroading was a big one. Still going on.
They stopped them from striking and potentially making greater gains, then tossed them some crumbs.
They should have stayed the hell out of it or used the government’s power to stop the rail companies not the strikers.
Well Congress did vote on a bill to give rail workers 7 days of sick leave at the same time as the vote preventing the strike. One bill got enough Republican support to pass, the other didn’t. If there were more Democrats in Congress, the outcome would have been more favorable to the unions, hands down
It’s wild to me that Biden broke the strike then got them the tiniest fucking concession afterwards and people think that’s an argument that he somehow was on the side of the union the whole time. Getting 4 sick days a year is absolutely nothing compared to the whole list of grievances and it’s embarrassing that people bring this up in response to him breaking the strike.
Huh. It’s really weird to read stuff like this. Just reminds me how lucky I am to not be in the US… with my legally mandated 10 days a year and all…
If he was a Republican he would have them all fired and nationally ban unions. So, there’s that.
The sick leave is what lead directly to the strike vote, all the union sources from the time are clear on that. What else did you think they were planning to strike over?
On one side I have seen where he’s continued negotiations with them to help them resolve issues without a strike which is pretty beneficial.
On the other hand, if that’s not as good as it looks, then this could show that he realized he fucked up not letting the rail workers strike. If he’s going this hard on other strikes and supporting unions it may be to garner support for re-election. Even if it’s only for his own gain, being heavily pro union is a win for the people.
These strikes don’t live in a vacuum. Inflation was much higher then, and supply chain transport constraints were a driving factor for it.
That was arguably some “Stop the Green Goblin or Save Gwen Stacy” shit.
Yes, but then he got them the sick days anyhow after the fact.
I’m concerned that the second deal isn’t part of the contract, but, yeah. He fucked them in the name of national security; then walked back and got them the ask.
He got them a small number of the sick days they were demanding, and didn’t address any of their other concerns whatsoever such as ending Precision Scheduled Railroading.
He didn’t get all the days they asked for but that was part of the negotiation.
Considering that he didn’t shut down the American economy while at the brink of a recession and still negotiated the terms that both sides agreed on is a win for me.
“Pro union only if I like the union, otherwise fuck them”
Collective bargaining of organized labor isn’t going to always pick the universally best option for everyone. Police unions should have made that glaringly obvious. If an electrical workers union agrees to a deal that benefits them but not others, it’s an incredibly shitty thing to do, but it’s still collective bargaining in action.
Joe Biden was a big fan of working on muscle cars when he was younger (even though he also loved public transportation). I think he can definitely appreciate the skill it takes to build a car, so I’m glad he’s doing this.
Yes, he didn’t do the right thing with the rail workers union- and yes, I know things were negotiated afterward, but it was the wrong way to go about it- but let’s not let the perfect be the enemy of the good and acknowledge that he’s doing the right thing this time, which is better than taking the side of the auto companies like the Republicans are.
Yes, he didn’t do the right thing with the rail workers union- and yes, I know things were negotiated afterward, but it was the wrong way to go about it- but let’s not let the perfect be the enemy of the good…
The rail union is quite pleased with how things played out according to IBEW’s Railway Department Director Al Russo.
We’re thankful that the Biden administration played the long game on sick days and stuck with us for months after Congress imposed our updated national agreement,” Russo said. “Without making a big show of it, Joe Biden and members of his administration in the Transportation and Labor departments have been working continuously to get guaranteed paid sick days for all railroad workers.
…snip…
“Biden deserves a lot of the credit for achieving this goal for us,” Russo said. “He and his team continued to work behind the scenes to get all of rail labor a fair agreement for paid sick leave.”
He did do the right thing with the railway workers. The strike would likely have had a massive economic impact across the nation and in many different industries. Avoiding the strike while still getting the workers much of what they wanted was a very good result. Not perfect, but as you said, don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.
IBEW is only one of 13 rail unions, and according to another Lemmy user, their union officials are some of the more conservative ones, preferring lobbying Democrats over strikes and popular labor action. I wouldn’t go to their statement to see what rank-and-file union members preferred, as they tried to negotiate weaker deals in the beginning and have generally been going against what the majority of their workers would have preferred, according to what I’ve heard from online union members and from places like the Railroad Workers United (a coalition of rank-and-file members across all the rail unions). It also didn’t address Precision Scheduling or inadequate staffing or all sorts of other things they probably could have gotten if their leverage wasn’t removed by the President and Congress.
People need to learn what their labor is capable of and politicians interfering absorbs energy from the workers. People also need to stop thinking of themselves as consumers (oh no! My Christmas presents won’t arrive in time!), and think of themselves as workers in solidarity with all other wage workers.
I 100% agree with Flying Squid that it was the wrong way to go about it, but he’s doing better now.
acknowledge that he’s doing the right thing this time
Is he DOING anything that helps the UAW? Seems like the president should have more power than verbal support and marching.
TFW your country has been a 1/10 for labor for decades and then a president bumps it to a 2/10 and all the neolib outlets champion him as the most pro-union president in history… 🤮
Why don’t you tell us where he is going in a useful headline as opposed to perpetuating click bait culture by using the headline from the website.
I would think this would be too dangerous for the Secret Service to give the okay on. I can only imagine the complexities involved in securing an area like that. On the other hand, I doubt any MAGA zealot would try to kill him, since that would give us our first black, female president.
