Posted on 09/14/2022 9:57:26 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) has blocked a joint resolution sponsored by Senator Roger Wicker (R., Miss.) and Senator Richard Burr (R., N.C.) that would avert a freight-rail strike.
Wicker and Burr introduced a resolution that would adopt the recommendations of the presidential emergency board (PEB) appointed by President Biden as binding for a new, national, freight-rail labor contract. The PEB recommended a 24 percent pay increase over the five-year span of the contract, the largest pay increase in the history of national bargaining.
Sanders said, “Rail workers have a right to strike for reliable schedules. They have a right to strike for paid sick days. They have a right to strike for safe working conditions. Rail workers have a right to strike for decent benefits.”
After talking about wealth inequality and “the billionaire class,” the crux of Sanders’s objection was the PEB’s recommendation about sick days. “Right now if you work in the freight rail industry . . . you are entitled to zero sick days,” Sanders said. “What that means is that if you, as a worker get sick, if your child gets sick, if your spouse gets sick, and you need to take time off of work, not only will you not get paid, you actually could get fired,” he said.
Sick leave was considered at length by the PEB. Unions had proposed “15 days of paid sick leave annually where no sick leave is currently provided and increase the number of days of paid sick leave annually to 15 days where less than 15 days of paid annual sick leave is provided.” That means some workers already do get paid sick leave.
After considering the unions’ arguments for the proposal and the carriers’ counterarguments, the PEB said (emphasis added):
The Board appreciates how deeply the Organizations and the membership feel about the manner in which the Carriers are applying their attendance policies. Disputes over those issues, however, are best resolved in the grievance and arbitration process, not by an overly broad and very costly proposal that would create 15 paid days a year that, while nominally labeled as sick leave days, would be structured to be used on demand as a means of permitting employees to better balance work-life needs and would effectively be personal days that could not be denied for any reason by the Carriers. We understand the concerns voiced by the Organizations as to the circumstances that led to this proposal (and several others made in this proceeding). We are simply not in agreement that this sick leave proposal is otherwise warranted or is the appropriate way to address the concerns. We have taken the changes in demands upon employees into account when we formulated our recommendations concerning the wage package, including the service recognition bonus component.
As I wrote earlier today, sick leave was one of the elements on which the PEB recommended arbitration as a possible solution. That means that accepting the PEB’s recommendations does not preclude unions from continuing to push for more sick leave in arbitration in the future. In addition, the PEB considered the sick-leave policy when making its wage-increase recommendations, which were the highest ever from national bargaining and over 40 percent higher than what carriers wanted to offer. The PEB also recommended adding an additional paid personal day, which would be included if Wicker’s and Burr’s resolution passes.
Time-off policies for rail workers are more complicated than other industries, owing to the inherent 24/7 nature of the business. According to the Association of American Railroads, rail workers receive three weeks of paid vacation on average, eleven paid holidays, and 26 weeks of partial income replacement (about 60 percent of pay). Some also receive a supplemental sickness benefit, which increases the partial-income-replacement rate and extends it to 52 weeks. In prior rounds of bargaining, some unions traded sick leave to get the supplemental sickness benefit instead.
Sanders’s objection now means that the resolution will require 60 votes to pass the Senate. Burr said, “This is in Senator Schumer’s hands. He’s the majority leader. . . . Here is the promise I’ll make to Senator Schumer. If you bring it to the floor, I’ll produce 48 Republican votes for it. That means Dems only need to produce 12 people to support it to keep the American people from a $2 billion a day negative impact on them.”
Wicker asked President Biden to make clear whether he supports the report from the PEB that he appointed. “[He should] exercise the presidential leadership that is needed at this point to persuade his friends in the four holdout unions that this is what needs to be done. . . . It’s really up to the Democratic leader and the president of the United States,” Wicker said.
"Hey, we need our Grift to go up 24%. Because Grifting is HARD."
At age 77, Bernie still wants to ‘Bring It All Down, Man!”
Wow …
Thanks bErnie. If the rail strike happens it will blow away Linda Graham’s bill from the headlines, or at least from voters’ main concerns.
Do you have any idea what a rail strike will do to the country
Yes, he is a real revolutionary. Bernie's biggest chore each week is trying to decide which one of his three multimillion dollar luxury mansions he wants to stay in .
The railroad workers don’t want to be subject to on call responsibility 24/7 and I don’t blame them.
If one is making good money one wants to be able to enjoy it.
I’m not sure how to resolve it, but hospitals and trucking companies have similar emergency staffing issues.
There are railroads in other countries. How do they manage it?
Yep.
Adding to this...the monthly pension for a railway worker is $3,815 on average for a career guy. Probably double of what a social security monthly check is.
Railway work isn’t Rocket Surgery.
The railroads hit the core of the problem. No employer really objects to sick employees staying home. The problem is when that is abused into just becoming time off whenever the employee wants a break, often on Fridays or Mondays. And for a time-critical business like railroads, that just doesn’t work.
That's funny...so do I.
Anything not mentioned in The Constitution...shouldn't exist. The states all have their own bloated bureaucracies which can very likely "handle it".
I found these UK rail union names online:
Communication Workers Union (CWU)
Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union
Perhaps Mondays and Fridays not paid sick days, but other days would be.
If you are sick, you are not out spending money.
Perhaps cap sick pay at $100/day.
Another possibility is one day of paid sick leave/additional paid vacation day per two call in-days work done by an employee.
Employees desiring paid sick/vacation days would be very eager to be on call a lot.
Perhaps say one month a year, selected at least a month in advance by the employer, would not be subject to 24/7 required reporting, for any given employee.
Perhaps say $1/hour of work for a union-run sick fund.
The union would pay sick members according to union rules.
Another possibility is sick day paid (up to say 10) if the sick worker or his/her union finds a timely replacement for the company.
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