President Biden is warning that a looming rail strike could have devastating economic consequences, and has called on House lawmakers to vote today to block the strike and force through a contract deal that raises wages by nearly 25% but includes no paid sick days and is opposed by four out of the 12 rail unions representing tens of thousands of workers. Among them is the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division, which said the move “denies Railroad Workers their right to strike while also denying them the benefit they would likely otherwise obtain if they were not denied their right to strike”.
Well, you know, the railroads have historically been a flashpoint of sort of both labor activism and also sort of setting the model for labor relations, industrial relations for much more than a century. I mean, it was on the — in the 19th century, of course, there were bloody clashes between the Army and the railroad workers. Eugene V. Debs was put in jail when he led the 1894 rail strike out of Chicago. But then, also, in World War I, the eight-hour day came to the railroads via Woodrow Wilson’s intervention. So, it’s more than just a strike of a few tens of thousands of rail workers; it’s going to set a model.
— source democracynow.org | Nov 30, 2022