The front page of reddit is so bad now. It's like 1/4 feel good memes, 1/4 variations of rate my pic subs, 1/4 ask reddit questions with the same answers I've seen a ton of times before, and 1/4 news and reviews. It's somehow bland pop culture nonsense mixed with whining and anger.
I can get the first and last 1/4 from Lemmy now and the other stuff I don't care about, so I get through the Reddit first few pages way faster than I used to now (when I'm browsing bored at work).
Mostly Jerboa nowadays and Sync nowadays. I used to use Voyager and Connect and Liftoff, which are all good also in their own ways, but Jerboa and Sync seemed to have the best functionality for me in terms of interacting with different communities and instances across the fediverse. I also need to look into Thunder one of these days.
Were you guys able to get some of your community to switch over? Chaptraphouse was successful with hexbear but I don't see a lot of other communities having luck (such as !futurology@futurology.today).
Not sure what the guy you replied to meant, but I don't think we should have referendums about every little thing. I know some of the stuff that pops up in my friend's state's referendums they say they don't feel qualified at all to vote on. But I agree that major stuff, like who gets to be President, probably should be direct voting.
Why not force the companies to accept the union terms then instead of the other way around? Why is it always workers who have to capitulate to capital? The reason the government always interferes because we're ruled by capital and business interests.
If they're that important then they should have had all their issues addressed, including safety issues.
Also, the original contract was not good for the workers and that's why it wasn't ratified. The higher up union officials haven't been connected to the rank and file, hence their bad original deals and the IBEW boot licking statement. To be honest the safety issues from Presision Schedules Railroading still aren't addressed and they've only gotten a small amount of the sick days they asked for (Europe gets like 10-15, they got 4-6). It's something, but it's pathetic. You can't say you're the most friendly labor president and then sign a law destroying a strike. Instead, he should have made speeches blaming the railroad companies and tried to negotiate without signing the law destroying the strike, instead using the threat of a Congress law to force them to come to the table (which it sounds like he did, but only after destroying the unions leverage and absorbing the only power workers have). This was after the midterms so it's not like he had to worry about an immediate election.
For the record, I get why he did it, but I still disagree that it was the right move, or the only move. There are European countries that have rail strikes, and they manage to survive those apocalypses, and keep a healthier labor movement at the same time.
IBEW is only one of 13 rail unions, and according to another Lemmy user, their union officials are some of the more conservative ones, preferring lobbying Democrats over strikes and popular labor action. I wouldn't go to their statement to see what rank-and-file union members preferred, as they tried to negotiate weaker deals in the beginning and have generally been going against what the majority of their workers would have preferred, according to what I've heard from online union members and from places like the Railroad Workers United (a coalition of rank-and-file members across all the rail unions). It also didn't address Precision Scheduling or inadequate staffing or all sorts of other things they probably could have gotten if their leverage wasn't removed by the President and Congress.
People need to learn what their labor is capable of and politicians interfering absorbs energy from the workers. People also need to stop thinking of themselves as consumers (oh no! My Christmas presents won't arrive in time!), and think of themselves as workers in solidarity with all other wage workers.
I 100% agree with Flying Squid that it was the wrong way to go about it, but he's doing better now.
Kind of... He gave them a small part of what they asked for and didn't touch the biggest stuff, like PSR. 4 days is better than 0, but still doesn't cover the breadth of what they could've gotten if the strike had been allowed to continue and they were allowed to negotiate without interference.
Kind of... He gave them a small part of what they asked for and didn't touch the biggest stuff, like PSR. 4 days is better than 0, but still doesn't cover the breadth of what they could've gotten if the strike had been allowed to continue and they were allowed to negotiate without interference.
They never mentioned any of that stuff. They would always just gesture broadly at the "economy" which hints at Christmas deliveries.
Really this just shows this sector is so critical to the economy and our lives that it needs to be nationalized, and the workers deserve their demands as a minimum.
Some other union member mentioned either in here or another thread that the IBEW is only one of 13 rail unions, and they're one of the most conservative ones, preferring lobbying Democrats over striking or using actual worker power. Their union officials also tried making deals earlier that the rest of their members rejected and didn't like, which they hinted at but seem to be down playing a lot in this statement naturally. That commenter said the Rail Workers United statement, which is a coalition of rank-and-file workers from among all the unions, has been a lot more scathing towards the White House's interference in the strike and negotiations even after they helped get them some sick leave.
Separately, it's not good that we set the precedent that power comes not from workers, but from up on high to be doled out at our rulers' whim. What happens when we get a conservative President next? They'll destroy the strike and we all just collectively shrug? People need to learn that power comes from numbers, a popular mandate, and withholding labor, not from back room deals secretly negotiated by higher up union officials, CEOs, and the President. Letting these actions continue builds relationships, trust, and solidarity among the workers that is important for future labor action.
Hopefully this spurs someone to go to the CFPB or something and sue. These companies need to stop pulling this retroactive change bullshit, like Unity, Wizards, ad now Hue.
To be honest, I think it is good that we're starting to see the conversation reframed from that of a consumer to that of a worker. People need to learn to think of themselves that way, not as pure consumers. Maybe it'll spread to also being nicer to waiters and stuff like that.
This is pretty scathing of him actually. Basically no credit was given to Biden and he was blamed for how difficult it was and for screwing them over, along with union officials who wanted to accept weak deals from the railroads and the White House. Their statement seems to be that only through popular pressure and media attention was there then the pressure on Congress to try to pass another law, and the threat of that is how they succeeded.
It's not saying government breaking strikes is good, they're saying it's a common tactic that has bee done throughout history that they need to be prepared for and overcome.
From your link (emphasis mine) :
Going forward into the next round of national bargaining in
2024, what lessons can we draw from this fight?
1 – National handling must be brought out into the light of
day, so all union members know what is going on week-to-
week, session-to-session.
2 – The membership must be polled, consulted, and in-
volved at every step of the bargaining process.
3 – The union officials must lead and organize member ac-
tions throughout the course of bargaining. 4 – Never again do we put faith in a PEB, regardless of who
is President.. 5 – Do not trust any politicians from any political party to
come to our aid and assistance.
6 – Do not accept the union officials’ claim that “this is the
best we can get.” If you believe you deserve more, vote no,
and raise hell.
7 – All unions must come together and bargain as a single,
united, and indivisible, ironclad bargaining coalition from
Day One..
8 – No union/craft breaks rank. None settles until ALL un-
ions/crafts settle.
9 – Join Railroad Workers United, help build unity of all rail
labor, and get involved in the fight for a good contract in the
next round of national bargaining
Oh nice. Federation is so cool that you can do that kind of thing.