As our friends at Twitchy first wrote, ‘207 Republicans’ got trending on Twitter over removing sick leave from the ongoing labor dispute between rail companies and its workers, which has been an economic iceberg throughout the year. Given the struggling economy, no strike must occur. It’s imperative since the financial cost is projected to be in the neighborhood of $2 billion per day and shutter 30 percent of all freight traffic. Commuter-based trains would virtually cease, and there is no way to nationalize the industry. There aren’t enough trained members of the National Guard to operate these vehicles.
One rail worker Sam found had the perfect twelve-tweet thread that explains the situation over sick leave and who was responsible for removing it from the contract that Congress is forcing on the unions to avoid a strike. As we reported earlier, when this fiasco was coming to a head toward the end of the 2022 midterms, two of the largest unions, which represent engineers and conductors, balked at the original framework. Out of the twelve major unions, eight supported the agreement, four rejected it, but all of them vowed to stand in solidarity should a strike occur. With Biden’s pro-union acumen unable to break the deadlock, Congress was asked to settle this dispute, which included the Presidential Emergency Board’s recommendation that sick leave be omitted from the new agreement. And yes, Biden selects who sits on the PEB:
A thread:
— Lil’ Donny B (@LilDonnyB) December 1, 2022
I prepped a post of what the basic process has been leading to this point of the rail workers strike situation to date for my real world friends on facebook. The misinformation/misunderstanding out there is staggering.
Please share this thread widely. 🧵/12 >>>
- Rail workers union negotiations are governed by US law.
— Lil’ Donny B (@LilDonnyB) December 1, 2022
- If negotiations between management and labor break down then the process goes to what is referred to as a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB).
3/12
- Biden’s representatives then draft what is called a tentative agreement.
— Lil’ Donny B (@LilDonnyB) December 1, 2022
- Tentative agreement is a misnomer as union leadership can not agree or disagree to the ruling of the PEB, they are required to present the tentative agreement to their membership as is for a vote.
5/12
- There are 12 unions impacted by this process.
— Lil’ Donny B (@LilDonnyB) December 1, 2022
- 8 unions did pass it, 4 of them did not.
- It is important to note that the 2 largest unions representing well over half the workers impacted voted against accepting the tentative agreement.
7/12
- The house passed a separate bill to compel rail workers to accept an agreement that includes less than half the sick days labor requested in negotiations.
— Lil’ Donny B (@LilDonnyB) December 1, 2022
- The house knows the Senate very likely will not pass this anyway.
9/12
- There was never agreement between union leadership and the board or management.
— Lil’ Donny B (@LilDonnyB) December 1, 2022
I hope this helps bring a little clarity. Please share. I really think it is important people understand this process because there is a ton of misinformation flying around.
11/12
The screenshot attached is the entirety of the Presidential Emergency Board’s reasoning for removing all sick leave from this contract.
— Lil’ Donny B (@LilDonnyB) December 1, 2022
12/12 pic.twitter.com/fQDZgmdgdf
Yet, while liberals on social media might be infuriated over the sick leave narrative, railroad union workers know who is to blame for the impasse over sick leave. They even drafted press releases about it.
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