• meat_popsicle@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    So, Biden and Congress are going to step in again and break this strike like they did with train workers, right? They’re both logistics unions that will (apparently) cripple supply chains if they go on strike.

    If they say there’s no legal mechanism for that: they have a template and it already passed constitutional tests - the same teeth the Railroad Labor Act has can just as easily be applied to UPS/FedEx/DHL via a new law.

    If Biden and Congress aren’t consistent with their logic on this it just proves how deep in the railroad baron pockets they really are.

    • DreamerOfImprobableDreams@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Except that the Biden Administration kept working with the railroad unions for months after the strike to pressure the railroad companies to give them sick leave, resulting in the railroad companies caving and giving the unions everything they wanted this spring. Union leaders are on record saying they couldn’t have gotten it done without the Administration’s help.

      But progress doesn’t sell as well in the papers as doom and despair, so almost no one knows about it.

      • meat_popsicle@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        So…in other words…justice delayed is not justice denied? The workers just need to shut up and live with bad contracts - we just need to trust they’ll do the right thing?

        The result was:

        • Labor got crushed - effectively the government did their negotiating for them. Why pay dues to a union that can’t even strike and can’t even negotiate by itself?

        • Railroads made absolute fortunes

        • A pittance was doled out since they had so much bad PR due to all the train derailments

        Personally, I think it’s hypocritical the government tells two groups with the same criticality to supply chains two different things. For one group, it’s a threat to the nation and our financial survival, so they can’t go on strike. For the other group, silence.

        • Zana@startrek.website
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          1 year ago

          But is it as critical if FedEx, USPS, and the others exist? Railroads to on strike, there is no one else. UPS goes on strike, Amazon just ships with FedEx.

          • CoffeeJunkie@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            It is quite critical, but as you suggested, somewhat able to be mitigated. Nobody cares about Amazon & their crapola. UPS ships a lot of high value, high priority medical shipments. Other shipments of high value or importance. Heavy shipments just below freight, more often UPS than FedEx. Amazon & their Prime shipping service is a joke, but they have deep pockets so they can do what they want for as long as they want.

            UPS does a lot of the across country shipping for USPS; most people don’t know that. Look at that bubble sleeve in your mailbox. There’s a good chance it says UPS SurePost. So those shipments will be impacted as well.

            UPS is king, UPS tends to be the best. Yes, alternatives & workarounds exist. But they’re far from ideal & are no substitute.

      • Lumun@lemmy.zip
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        1 year ago

        Thanks for the additional context. I never heard anything about this. You can’t say the Biden Labor department has been idle. They have also been very present with the Longshoremen negotiations on the west coast recently. I wish they were even more pro-worker but this just goes to show that elections matter.

    • admiralteal@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Repealing the FLSA is not going to happen. Not even a limited appeal to do what you described. No way in all fucking hell you’d get 66 Senators to agree to it, and the likes of Bernie would do a full, talking filibuster to stop it from happening. Not that he’d need to, because it just wouldn’t happen. All the GOP would stand against it (because, you know, a Dem is doing it) and most of the Dems would be against it.

      You may as well be worried that Biden is going to pass a Constitutional amendment making him president-for-life for all the political likelihood this idea has.

    • BaldProphet@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      I was going to say the same thing. I would actually be surprised if they didn’t break this strike.