16 September 2022

So the Railroad Strike is Off ……… For Now

So, there appears to be an agreement which will prevent a nationwide railroad strike.  The strike was to start today.

I don't know the details, though there appears to be a pay hike, and the railroad workers will get the right to be sick, albeit without pay.

I'm not sure if it will pass, but it will be at least a week before the full text of the contracts are made available to the union members, and there is already some opposition online.

We need to give a shout-out to Bernie Sanders, who refused to give consent to starting debate in the Senate for a bill that would have enforced a settlement.

The Senate could have gone for cloture, but that would have put any vote well after the start of any strike.

On a political level, Bernie probably saved the Democratic Party's ass, because otherwise, they would have panicked about the economic effects of a rail strike, and betrayed the railroad unions during at time of increased union activism.

It is not guaranteed that the rank and file will vote to approve the deal, but this pushes any potential strike back, so from a purely political perspective, this is a win for the Democrats.

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