Yeah, so, remember how the train workers wanted to strike because they knew the way things were going, there would be more train derailments and accidents, and Biden quashed it? About that.
This is always the argument that people bring up around this, and its woefully misrepresented. Biden signed a bill that 75% of the railroad unions agreed on. The bill was designed to be the bare minimum needed by the unions to continue their work. He stated after signing the bill that work still needed to be done, and that the fight for the unions for better wages and safety was not over, but he was signing this bill to prevent a total shut down of the economy that relies heavily on railroad infrastructure. Biden never said that the unions couldn’t continue to address the shortcomings of the system. He didn’t take away their rights to strike, or force them into compliance. He merely signed a bill (again, approved by the majority of the unions) to make sure that the railways stay open. If there is a continued failure of the railways, it’s not on him, it is because nothing has changed since then. There is still work to be done, it was only ever meant to be a stopgap to avoid a much larger crisis. If you think the writer’s strike and SAG-AFTRA was a big deal because movies couldn’t be made, imagine what would happen to the US if food supply lines were completely severed. Do you think the produce you get in the grocery store was all farmed within walking distance?
Hey maybe if it’s such a point of national security, and halting the trains would have such catastrophic consequences, maybe it’s time we nationalized the rail systems? Maybe having these rails in the hands of greedy profiteers who have demonstrated that they are willing to shirk on safety regulations is a terrible idea?
“The government is corrupt, and they can’t be trusted to run things. Our infrastructure should be in the hands of the people.”
“The people are corrupt, and they can’t be trusted to run things. Our infrastructure should be regulated by the government.”
Pick a side, but in either case, the only way that we overcome these obstacles is with oversight. It doesn’t matter who controls anything, all that matters is how much we hold them accountable for the greater good. You want to really solve the problem, figure out how to get everyone to agree on what’s best. Until then, we’ll have milquetoast regulations, oligarchs too preoccupied with someone’s sexual orientation to actually do anything, and allegiances that change depending on the signature line on the checks.
I’ve never heard someone say the government is corrupt and infrastructure should be in the hands of the people. The government is the people. Most people say it should be taken out of the hands of private companies and put into the hands of the people, managed by the government. Workers controlling the means of production and all that.
I’ve never heard someone say the government is corrupt and infrastructure should be in the hands of the people.
How long have you been on lemmy that you haven’t run into a communist or socialist, yet? Shit, even the Libertarians agree on that, and they’re fucking idiots.
The government is the people.
In a republic, sure. This ain’t a republic, though.
Most people say it should be taken out of the hands of private companies and put into the hands of the people, managed by the government. Workers controlling the means of production and all that.
Oh, ok, so you have seen a communist or two hanging around here. So, the problem that we have with the government controlling (or managing) things is that the government itself is at the behest of the massive companies, hence my cry for oversight. As long as Big Whoever is throwing money at the lawmakers, the government will suck the dick of whoever they think is paying them. Truthfully, I don’t really see the difference between infrastructure controlled by the “government” or the “people”, because no matter what stamp we put on it, it’s still the United States of Exxon, Nestle, Pepsi, Disney, Google, Amazon, Phillip Morris, Pfizer, or any of the other big names that throw all of their money into obstructing the 99%. The “people”, as in you and me, have no power, and we control nothing. Some will say that they want to see utilities and essential services controlled by the “people” and regulated by the government, but the only outcome for that is exactly what we have: lobbyist making laws based on the desires of the 1%. In short (too late), if we want change, it comes from accountability. The only way we can fight to regain control is to hold those we put in power responsible for their actions. Unfortunately, those we put in power have spent a lot of time making sure that they can’t be held accountable, so, fuck us, right?
See, I’m working on the assumption that the government is controlled by the people, not corporations. Otherwise you don’t really have a government.
To throw out another catchphrase, governments only exist by the consent of the governed, and that does ultimately mean the people.
You can work on whatever assumptions you want. You could assume that their is an eldritch council of Furries that dictate the laws based on how many episodes of Friends the Ugly Naked Guy was mentioned in, it won’t make it the truth. Governments do exist by the consent of the governed, unfortunately that consent is manufactured.
Apparently you have not met many people from eastern Europe.
Why did such legislation come at the expense of the workers?
It was the company that built every one of these problems. It was the company that was responsible. It’s the company that has the resources and power to make changes.
But when Biden stepped in to keep the economy open, he punished the workers instead.
He didn’t “punish” anyone. He made a decision with two bad options, of which he had to pick one. That’s what being President is.
He also worked after this bill was passed and got them what they wanted anyway.
https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/22Daily/2208/220917_thanks
So there’s an option to support the working class and option to support the rich, and he chose to support the rich, and only came back for workers later.
Why can’t we just expect him to do better for the workers in the first place?
The people who would have been negatively impacted by the strike would be working class people. If trains shut down, people die.
Every city is less than 48 hours from a starvation crisis, all the time.
It’s that bad, and he didn’t just give the workers what they wanted immediately? If they’re that important, why is it even a debate? If the country depends on them, give them what they want.
It’s that bad, and he didn’t just give the workers what they wanted immediately?
A) it’s not “bad” it’s just the way cities work. Always has been, and will be the case until we truly master vertical farming.
B) Presidents aren’t kings. There is a sizable portion of Congress that is extremely anti-Union.
Edit: lmao it should read “union” with lower-case but fuck it because those people tend to be anti-Union too
75% of unions representing what percentage of the workers? It’s less than 50%. It is NOT a minority that rejected the bill, it was the majority.
Biden signed a bill that 75% of the railroad unions agreed on.
You keep saying this like a majority of people agreeing to something somehow prevents them from being fleeced.
A majority of the workers rejected that agreement and that’s what matters. Stop trying to frame this as being the majority.
A majority of workers weren’t represented effectively, then, and that isn’t Biden’s fault.
It’s his fault because he’s the one that signed the fucking bill.
The workers were being represented effectively! They were going to go on strike! He and congress worked together to stop them for “the economy”. He stopped their unions from representing them effectively by forcing them to accept an inferior contract that they rejected.
The fact that you’re defending Biden on this is disgusting. Bet you defend him for supporting Israel’s genocide too.
He signed a bill that was agreed upon by 75% of the Unions. You act like Biden sat in a room with a quarter million railroad workers and told them to go fuck themselves. He met with their leadership, and the majority of the leadership agreed on the bill. If only 25% of the leaders had agreed, Biden may have done more, but getting 75% of any group to agree on politics is a fucking miracle, and you take those when you get them.
You can’t say that the workers were being represented properly and in the same breath say that their representatives went against their wishes when they supported the bill. It seems like you have an axe to grind about Biden, and you are letting your feelings about him affect your decision making process. You should probably vote 3rd party next year to cleanse your conscience.
He signed a bill that was agreed upon by 75% of the Unions.
That’s not how democracy works!
One person, one vote. There were multiple unions that were voting together as a group, and each union represented different numbers of people. The unions that represented the most people voted against the agreement and that’s why they were going to strike!
The majority. Of workers. Voted to strike. The majority. Of workers. Were betrayed by Biden and continue to be betrayed by shits like you. The rank-and-file voted to strike and they were going to strike and then Biden shut it down.
When a majority of voters vote “no” then the result is no, no matter what unions they belong to. It’s called solidarity. You don’t seem to understand how voting works, how unions work, or what Biden actually did to stop the strike from happening.
If I wanted to cast a vote that matters this election I would cast a 9mm ballot into my fucking mouth. Seems more productive.
If I wanted to cast a vote that matters this election I would cast a 9mm ballot into my fucking mouth. Seems more productive.
I knew we would find something to agree on.
I’ll edit this with a real reply:
That’s not how democracy works!
One person, one vote. There were multiple unions that were voting together as a group, and each union represented different numbers of people.
Welcome to unionizing. You give up the voice of the many to have a stronger singular voice. Unions aren’t genies there to grant the wishes of every person that pays dues, they represent the masses by giving them a single voice. You are looking at this like all of the people that were put out agreed 100% with each other, and we know that isn’t true. They all had different visions of how things should work, and while that venn diagram had a good amount of overlap, it wasn’t unanimous. If it was, they wouldn’t need a Union rep. It doesn’t matter how many people each Union had, it was still a singular class. If you don’t like that, then I invite you to figure out a better way to do it, and then present your findings to America’s labor unions and get them all to agree on it.
When a majority of voters vote “no” then the result is no, no matter what unions they belong to. It’s called solidarity. You don’t seem to understand how voting works, how unions work, or what Biden actually did to stop the strike from happening.
When a majority of voters vote “no”, then their representative votes “no”. And when that vote is cast along with all of the other representatives, then the votes are tallied and a consensus is reached. Please don’t lecture me on how to vote, I’ve seen the Schoolhouse Rock video, I’m well aware of how things work. If you don’t like this system, then you should find some like minded people, and form a group, and then using the power of your collective voice tell the government that it needs to change… wait… that’s just a fucking union.
Why do you pretend to care so much when you didn’t care enough to Google what happened after the bill passed?
https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/22Daily/2208/220917_thanks
Like, your anger here is entirely performative. That doesn’t strike you as odd?
Thank you capitalist scum and their precision scheduled railroading bullshit. Profits over people till the end of goddamn time.
As an aside, why do I always see you crying about Biden? There is far more to it yet you seem to love reducing it all down to Biden
Who is crying about Biden? It’s not clear who you’re replying to.
Imagine a railroad company evacuating your town but promising to provide you with Thanksgiving dinner… What hell
And most Kentuckians will continue to vote for Republicans who don’t want to improve their infrastructure (or “Democrats” who don’t aim to transition them into jobs which will be applicable in the future and to help them feed their families during this transition but say the words progressives want to hear).
Propaganda is a hell of a drug. It works especially well when you undereducate your populace. Oh wait, I wonder which states are doing that.
So after the last derailment I was watching some YT channel and they said that the railway company brought 3rd party lab to test the water and my immediate thought was “why would you trust a company paid by the culprit to asses the damage?” I mean it’s USA, of course it’s corrupt. Week later they were talking about this big company that bought all the labs and is now making tons of money by always getting results favourable to the corporations ordering tests.
The most amazing part of all this is that the American channel didn’t pick up on this at first and all the people drinking contaminated water trusted the results. The entire country was taken over long time ago and they still didn’t realize it. Insane.
Born and raised in Kentucky, as were my parents and their parents – fuck the government in that shit ass state. The governor is pretty decent but every other level of government is ass clowns all the way down. Glad I moved to a rational state when I did.
And what are the twats in power going to do about the hundreds of “minor derailments” every day.
Nothing. They got elected to do nothing.
The real question is, what is their constituency going to do next election cycle?
Blame Biden and vote R down the ticket.
No.
Alright, McConnell, ball’s in your court, fuckface!
Speaking of balls, doesn’t his neck look like a scrotum?
If it’s mummified, sure
CVX?
