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.
The “most pro union president in history” made it illegal when rail workers were set to strike for better wages and conditions and safety.
-A leftist.
Are sure about that friend? Because in reality a economic nightmare of a railroad shutdown was avoided and with the help of the Biden Administration rail workers got what they’ve what they were trying to get for decades.
Kind of… He gave them a small part of what they asked for and didn’t touch the biggest stuff, like PSR. 4 days is better than 0, but still doesn’t cover the breadth of what they could’ve gotten if the strike had been allowed to continue and they were allowed to negotiate without interference.
I don’t know if I’d say it was small and they didn’t touch the biggest stuff – the companies and unions had actually come to an agreement in late Fall. The problem was the negotiators hadn’t actually understood their members’ priorities though. The deal gave like 1 sick day with several restrictions on usage, and significant salary increases over the next several years.
Union members pushed back, and said the PTO wasn’t enough. This is when Union leadership had come back extolling the medical benefits they had secured.
Sick days were a huge part of what the members wanted.
…and continued to work on it afterward.
Kind of… He gave them a small part of what they asked for and didn’t touch the biggest stuff, like PSR. 4 days is better than 0, but still doesn’t cover the breadth of what they could’ve gotten if the strike had been allowed to continue and they were allowed to negotiate without interference.
“We’re very happy about this. We’ve been trying to get this for decades,” said Artie Maratea, president of the Transportation Communications Union. “It was public pressure and political pressure that got them to come to the table.”
From that article. I’m going to trust that opinion over yours
So did biden actually take actons to stop the strikes? “i am a god, dont piss me off or ill fuck you up” situation.
did biden have lies published about him? completely loose control of his public image
Lies or not, was the news ment to scare union members?
Because I and others have herd things with the message “biden attempts to stop the strike.”
Edit: calm down HelloHotel, dont be a jackass!
He had been negotiating on the unions’ side since the summer. They actually had a deal that everyone agreed to in late Fall, but the union negotiators made a mistake and didn’t understand their members priorities. There was like one sick day that had to be scheduled in advance on certain days, but they saw significant pay increases. That isn’t where the members had their priorities though.
Whataboutism. Definitely a low point of the Biden administration, but we’ll take what we can.
You do realize there’s a pretty big difference to auto workers striking and the entire railway railway shutting down before Christmas, right? One would literally fuck the nation over and cause chaos.
It is, especially when they don’t bring up everything he did afterwards to still help them out
Didn’t he severely fuck the train workers unions a few months ago, or did I get that wrong?
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.
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
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.
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?
If he was a Republican he would have them all fired and nationally ban unions. So, there’s that.
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…
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
“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.
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.
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.
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… 🤮
all the presidents go there every election time
they all throw some scraps out that represent what they claim to be standing for and usually the flashier guy wins
both guys work for the same team but have two different uniforms either red or blue with different letters on them but always d or r
works great for whoever they actually are representing
if anyone else has a different opinion we can chain them to a chair MURICA!
https://www.democracynow.org/2012/10/17/green_partys_jill_stein_cheri_honkala
Is it to bosnia?
