Hot Take: 207 Republicans Voted Against Sick Days For Railroad Workers

From the insane moonbat minds at Jezebel

More Than 200 Republicans Voted Against Paid Sick Days for Railroad Workers

Railroad workers are unionized and their contract is set to expire on Dec. 9, which has prompted speculation about a possible railroad strike that could disrupt travel and cripple supply chains.

President Joe Biden and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh helped broker a tentative deal earlier this year, but four out of 12 rail unions voted against it, mostly because the proposed contract included just one single paid sick day. In their current contract, the workers have zero sick days. (snip)

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted on a bill to adopt the tentative contract, which passed 290-137. Many Democrats were also furious about the sick time issue, so the House also voted on Resolution 119, which would add seven days of paid sick leave to the contract. A whopping 207 Republicans voted against it. The resolution still passed with 221 votes, from 218 Democrats and a measly three Republicans.

They were just doing as Biden and Pelosi asked, to vote for a clean bill. Congress does, in fact, have a lot of power in the business of privately owned railroads, but, what happens if this resolution becomes part of the Tentative Agreement, and the railroads spike it? Which then leads to a strike? That was the whole idea of voting for a clean bill. The railroads say there is a reason they only want 1 sick day (I’m not buying it, workers should have more, or, at least be able to use a few vacation days without notice as sick days). Congress is not the place to muck around with this.

So far, the White House has nothing to say on not getting a clean vote. And it ended up getting a clean vote, without that resolution, in the Senate

(Wall Street Journal) Senate lawmakers passed a bill Thursday to prevent a nationwide strike by railroad workers after rejecting a proposal to give them expanded paid sick leave.

In a 80-15 vote, with one voting present, lawmakers agreed to force unions to adopt an earlier labor agreement, exceeding the 60-vote threshold for the measure to pass. The move is expected to end the long-running labor dispute between Union Pacific Corp., CSX Corp. and other freight railroads and more than 115,000 workers.

The measure now goes to the White House. President Biden has said he is prepared to sign any resolution passed by Congress that prevents such a strike. Under the Railway Labor Act, Congress can make both sides accept an agreement to prevent harm to the U.S. economy.

The additional 6 sick days was shot down 52-43, unable to pass the 60 vote threshold. They also killed an amendment to allow for 60 days more of negotiation

Save $10 on purchases of $49.99 & up on our Fruit Bouquets at 1800flowers.com. Promo Code: FRUIT49
If you liked my post, feel free to subscribe to my rss feeds.

Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed

4 Responses to “Hot Take: 207 Republicans Voted Against Sick Days For Railroad Workers”

  1. W Wilson says:

    What is congress doing forcing a contract on a union?

  2. captainfish says:

    Ok.. so most companies, state agencies, federal workers and private workers get paid sick leave and holiday leave.
    How is it that this union has negotiated all these years to NOT give their workers paid time off due to sickness??
    This is one reason to not work for unions. All those billions of dollars going to union reps who don’t represent the workers.
    And, how do you work for a company that doesn’t let you take time off for sickness or to care for sick family member?

    And, I thought the workers wanted 7 paid sick days, but the union previously agreed to only 3 days, and Congress is suggesting 1 paid sick day? Yeah, this won’t be agreed upon. ALmost like this is a poison pill

  3. alanstorm says:

    Since then, the major questions of labor negotiations — wages and health care — have been settled. (Rail workers get retirement benefits directly from the federal government, and they far exceed Social Security.) The wage increase is the largest ever negotiated under national bargaining. Rail-worker health benefits are classified as Platinum under the Affordable Care Act and are some of the most generous of any private-sector workers in the country. Average annual total compensation (including benefits) for freight-rail workers is $135,700. Approval of the deal would increase it to about $160,000.

    Grying about sick days is a distraction. Both of the numbers in the last two sentences are more than I earned in my best years. So I should cry for rail workers – who chose this work voluntarily – why exactly?

Pirate's Cove