Rail road strike

[cannongal]

Bidens 60 day extension is almost up.  Not all the unions are in agreement with the most current offer.
As of today,  Amtrak is canceling all long distance routes in preparation for a possible strike. 
Pelosi says Congress will step in,  if it has to,  although,  other than bringing in the national guard to take over,  I don't see how Congress can force people to work.

News reports say that if a strike occurs,  it will cost the nation 2 million dollars a day,  and cause some serious supply issues. 

Do you think the strike will happen?

[Duchess]

  I don't see how Congress can force people to work.



Do you think the strike will happen?

I don't know how either, but didn't Reagan make air traffic controllers work back in the day?

I don't know if a strike will happen. I really don't know much of anything about this.

[cannongal]

  I don't see how Congress can force people to work.



Do you think the strike will happen?

I don't know how either, but didn't Reagan make air traffic controllers work back in the day?

I don't know if a strike will happen. I really don't know much of anything about this.

Actually,  Reagan fired over 11,000 air traffic controllers,  and brought in the military as a temporary replacement.    Air traffic controllers are considered federal employees,  so Reagan had the right to do that. 

Railroads are privately owned,  and it's employees are not considered federal.    The only thing the government does for railroads is take care of the retirement funds.

The rails themselves are also privately owned,  which is why Amtrak is suspending cross country routes.

A few reasons for the strike are that the employees have been without a contract for 3 years.    They haven't had a raise in like 7 years, and most recently,  working conditions have deteriorated to the point of being unsafe for the workers. 

Workers started a campaign called 'fight for 2 man crews '  a few months back, after the railroad corporations petitioned the government to allow for only 1 worker on a freight train at any given moment.    So if that one worker becomes incapacitated,  there'd be no one else to push the emergency stop button,  or slow down the train when it comes into the station.

[Duchess]

Alrighty. I knew it was something to do with air traffic controllers, but I couldn't recall the back story. It was a very long time ago and I didn't take the time to look it up this morning.

[Duchess]

[BigMark]

they have horrible hours and sleep in shitty motels but get paid good.

[cannongal]

The agreement still needs to be voted on and ratified,  but it looks like a strike has been averted.    I  love how both sides let it go right down to the wire.   Of course,  they would have struck last July if Biden hadn't pushed it back 60 days.

I guess I can take off my tinfoil hat now,  and stop prepping for railroad apocalypse.

[Maggot]

Everything is the end of the world nowadays.

[rothschild]

  I don't see how Congress can force people to work.



Do you think the strike will happen?

I don't know how either, but didn't Reagan make air traffic controllers work back in the day?

I don't know if a strike will happen. I really don't know much of anything about this.

Actually,  Reagan fired over 11,000 air traffic controllers,  and brought in the military as a temporary replacement.    Air traffic controllers are considered federal employees,  so Reagan had the right to do that. 

Legality doesn't equate to morality. Air traffic control was a mess at that time due to mismanagement and incompetence. Instead of addressing that Reagan made it a labor issue, which exemplified an absence of leadership. He was just another shit-sucking politician in my book.