Biden Turns to Congress to Defend the Capitalist Class and Trample Union Rights
It would appear Joe “no president supports labor unions as much as me” Biden is rather confused on how to express his supposed support for the working class in any meaningful way. As it stands, he’s currently pushing Congress to pass legislation forcing a contract agreement between union workers and rail operators in order to avoid a looming strike. The agreement does not offer any paid sick days, which is (rightfully) considered a non-starter by the labor unions. President Biden could have put pressure on rail operators to accept the terms, or use his executive privileges to intervene on behalf of the workers, both to put his money where his mouth is and prove his pro-union stance, but to avoid a possible economic catastrophe as well in the process. Instead, Biden backed the capitalist class and told the workers to get fucked.
Joe, come on, man. The workers need you, Jack!
I joke because I’m dying a little inside everyday by the fact there is neither a question nor delay when it comes to sending billions to Ukraine, but they aren’t even willing to brush the scraps off their plates and into their own people’s hungry mouths. The coke troll in Kiev blasts blow up his nose and screams at the West to send more money with saliva shooting out from behind his jagged animal teeth and there’s almost never any pushback when the answer is yes (over and over and over again). Ask for something as basic as a wage raise or an extra sick day or two and watch as the wealth and might of the U.S.’ giant fist hammers down and crushes you.
“When unions win, workers across the board win. That’s a fact. Families win, community wins, America wins — we grow. Despite this, workers have been getting cut out of the deal for too long a time.” - Joe Biden
This was back in 2021 during a PR event the White House held to “honor” labor unions. There has never been any doubt in my mind that everything Biden has said about supporting labor unions and the working class in general has been completely hollow, but here we are just one year later and he’s not even pretending anymore. When the workers needed him, he turned away from them. When presented with no better an opportunity to prove his words, he backtracked, and fled to Congress in defense of the freight rail industry. Not surprising, but infuriating nonetheless.
Again, what is it that railway workers are asking for? Four paid sick days a year. As it stands, they have zero. Zero.
So here we have two things happening simultaneously: Joe Biden is abandoning labor unions who are simply asking for no more than a measly 4 paid sick days off every year, something you would assume would be a reasonable and manageable request following everything we dealt with during the height of the pandemic. One could also reasonably assume the fact that the freight rail industry is seeing record profits and has shortened its labor force by 30% over the last decade or so. Why can’t the workers’ demands be met, considering all of this?
The simple answer is because workers don’t matter to people like Joe Biden and his administration. Workers mean nothing to Nancy Pelosi unless they’re making the products she buys. I must repeat myself yet again and ask, how the hell is it financial aid can be sent by the billions to Ukraine in a heartbeat, but the workers of America are given excuse after excuse after excuse to avoid improving their material conditions? The can just keeps getting kicked on down the road and the only time you’ll see it stop is when you die.
The second thing happening here is Biden and his media mouth pieces have been promoting the argument that striking railway workers could not only disrupt the economy, but could cripple it. We’re told of the drastic domino effects that will follow, sending the country into chaos as the economy takes a massive hit. This is actually true, depending on how long the strike takes place. Rail workers are some of the most important members of the American working class, for the exact reasons that make the idea of them going on strike and trains being halted for an extended period of time such a sobering one.
This argument is concluding that despite railway workers being so important to the stability of the country, it’s not enough to earn them the bare minimum. It acknowledges what could happen if the strike goes through as planned, while union workers repeatedly state that all they want is 4 paid sick days every 12 months, and the strike would be called off. No compromise. So the workers prepare to take action. These sort of strikes are not new and often end in violence. I hope this is not the case, but I can’t help wonder what Biden’s response might be then. Force rail operators to concede to workers’ demands? Call in the national guard and the feds and let history repeat itself? This situation has the potential to get really ugly once a strike begins, which will occur December 9th if a deal isn’t made by then.
And with everything we’ve seen happen both in America as well as in Europe since the beginning of Russia’s intervention in Ukraine, it’s clear the U.S. ruling elite are so drunk on power they have reached a point where they are willing to concede nothing.
And here I thought essential workers were heroes, or was that just more stupid bullshit like this?
