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GraffitiTavern OP t1_iyl4vwk wrote

But also lets say that while he voted down the sick days, Casey was willing to force the deal on workers without those sick days, and those bills should have never been separated in the first place

EDIT: correction

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31November t1_iyl6438 wrote

Republican values, everybody.

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ArchaeoJones t1_iyl6url wrote

Is anyone really surprised? Toomey has always been for himself and only for himself. He won't face any repercussions because he's running for the hills with his pockets full.

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p_britt35 t1_iyl8nkh wrote

Toomey has benefits for life and doesn't care about anyone else. This was his last fuck you.

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NewYork_607 t1_iyl8uei wrote

Republicans never cared for the working class and they showed their true colors during the pandemic. It’s crazy because rural poor people vote republican and most of the time it’s against their best interest. I remember a lot of conservatives from (PA) would move across the border to a blue state (NY) just to get public assistance… then turn around and vote red. I just don’t get MAGA nation.

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LakotaTbirds1970 t1_iyl8wn0 wrote

Jumping in here to say one last fuck you to shitbag asshole dick Pat Toomey. Rot in hell, MF

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AdenGamesTV t1_iyl9dzv wrote

Glad we're getting a senator upgrade.

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courageous_liquid t1_iyletyp wrote

Hot reminder he was scared to come to Philly, the largest city in his state. He's an absolute clown.

He manned the candy desk at the impeachment, like a child, and also filled it with the void of santorum.

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tailspin64 t1_iylwh73 wrote

Who was voting for this man all these years

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cody0341 t1_iylwkhx wrote

Yes Pat Toomy sucks, but who are the ones that forced a contract and didn’t allow rail workers to strike?

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DesignSilver1274 t1_iylwxhy wrote

Of course, he did! Good riddance to that miserable SOB!

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CurGeorge8 t1_iylx9m8 wrote

Sorry but “blame Republicans” doesn’t fly this time. Dems chose to intervene. Dems chose to offer a “no sick leave” option. And Dems just put it through both houses.

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Weary_Ad7119 t1_iylym9v wrote

Wow. You want to complain about all the DNC supporters too? Or just pretend like the DNC didn't vote for this?

−2

Blexcr0id t1_iylymts wrote

Right. All this because the railroads wont give their workers a few days of paid sick leave and a few days of unpaid sick leave. Reporting record profits and the railroad companies refuse to support the labor that makes their companies profitable. Kinda gross that the government even pushed these bills through... I think the railroad unions should strike anyways.

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Weary_Ad7119 t1_iylyqa4 wrote

You realize that democrats and the DNC pushed voted this through right?

How are you justifying punting your teams responsibility?

Reddit: this aged well. Only took 8 or so hours.

−9

CltAltAcctDel t1_iylyqqa wrote

Congress shouldn’t be in the labor negotiation business. If Congress believes an industry is so vital to the nation that its workers cannot strike they need to enact a law similar to PA’s Act 111. That law says cops and firefighters can’t strike and that labor impasses are settled in binding arbitration.

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ItsjustJim621 t1_iylywgg wrote

Ahhh…one more ratfucking before he leaves.

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Blexcr0id t1_iylyzw0 wrote

Agreed. It's untenable. Dems are still the best choice (at this time) but the fact that they folded for the railroad corporate donors says everything you need to know about our government.

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worstatit t1_iylz3c0 wrote

While not surprised about Toomey, I'm unsure of the inner workings of this issue. Are these workers allowed a large number of vacation or personal days that must be used if they call off sick? Seems unusual that rail work has a reputation as good employment, yet no sick time? Why would they fire experienced workers for being sick when they're begging for new hires? Why does this contract affect six different unions? Seems more complex than the headlines and articles, though I hit a paywall on this one.

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Joe_Jeep t1_iylz4ph wrote

Oh no. it absolutely does. The entire GOP has the chance to vote it up too almost none did

Its just the usual trend of Dems being shit and he republicans being evil

But ya lets cry the Dems weren't strategic wizards like usual instead of addressing that the GOP loathes anything like this at all. You think they'd have given the workers sick days? We all know they wouldn't have.

And ya the Dems aren't left enough and corrupted to business interests. The solution to that isn't apologetics for the side even worse about it

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RedStar9117 t1_iym02mz wrote

Garbage people do garbage things

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googlebearbanana t1_iym0fzg wrote

I thought he was close to retirement. He's an awful person.

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51stStar t1_iym1nkk wrote

The DNC?! You don’t understand anything, go back to the children’s table and be quiet until it’s time to go run around in the yard.

Edit: the DNC has nothing to do with legislation, it’s like blaming a sports agent for an outfielder missing a catch. This is basic stuff, but stay dumb if you want.

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cashonlyplz t1_iym1ygq wrote

He's just got to be as evil as possible while he still can

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MoveItSpunkmire t1_iym2b3t wrote

Can’t wait to write him tonight to remind him he’s scum

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CurGeorge8 t1_iym2qd6 wrote

Here are the Senators who voted against forcing the contract on the rail workers. The measure passed 85-15:

Cotton, Cruz, Hawley, Rubio, Rick Scott, Toomey, Collins, Tim Scott, Hagerty, Gillibrand, Merkley, Sanders, Hickenlooper, Warren, Sullivan

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AbsentEmpire t1_iym5oog wrote

Toomey also voted against imposing the deal on the railroad workers which was the correct thing to do, while Casey voted to union bust.

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Advanced-Guard-4468 t1_iym65hs wrote

The Big story hear is that the house and senate stripped Collect Bargaining from the railroad workers.

The party for the unions overwhelming did this.

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106473 t1_iym6v7x wrote

That bill was doa anyways with the added pork in it. And the bill wouldn't have had to happen in the first place if the administration didn't nullify previous executive action's that helped with the costs of insulin.

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Barnard_Gumble t1_iym6vwa wrote

Anyone have a link to the actual terms of the deal? This headline reads like these guys can’t call off, but I think they already have paid personal time. They want seven additional paid days specifically for being sick (plus a 20% raise).

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106473 t1_iym76oo wrote

My friend works for bnsf, their sick days and personal time is so messed up it's actually quite sickening that they have to deal with it. They work of a strike system of every time they call off, even if it's for legitimate reasons.

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Advanced-Guard-4468 t1_iym7958 wrote

The party that is for the "working man" stripped thier collective bargaining rights away. Most people are focused on the 7 days.

CB rights are the big issue here. Biden didn't get involved with the negotiations he knew congress and senate would do what had to be done.

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fritolazee t1_iym7y0o wrote

This list of benefits actually isn't that impressive to me and makes me feel even more that they should get the sick days. I work a far less important job and starting benefits are 20 PTO, 10 sick, 3 personal, 6 holidays plus the week between Christmas an New Years, and then all the other short and long term disability stuff.

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worstatit t1_iym8d02 wrote

So it is quite convoluted? Though I understand a need for reliable employees in an industry of this type, there should also be safety concerns involving sick people at posts involvingpublicsafety, aside from employee welfare. Seems the special rules developed over the years for this industry did not help it's employees.

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Annahsbananas t1_iym9a0g wrote

Pat Toomey has always been a useless piece of shit

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Advanced-Guard-4468 t1_iym9cr6 wrote

Math made simple. If inflation is 15% and the companies increased profits by 8 to 10% (record profits) they still lost 5 to 7%.

The Railroads didn't have to negotiate in good faith if they knew congress was going to step in and cut a deal. You can bet the railroads knew the fix was in. They just had to drag it past the mid-term elections.

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pervert_hoover t1_iymau0v wrote

^ this is important context. Toomey is a sack of shit, but he is a sack of shit who wasnt going to force workers to take a contract they didn't agree with. You can say he only wanted to cause chaos to make Biden look bad (which is probably true), but you can't cast those other 85 votes as worker-friendly.

imagine getting outflanked from the left by a fucking hedge fund stooge like Toomey. this is the state of American politics.

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SomePaddy t1_iymawxz wrote

Unpopular take: pork barrel politics used to be the driver of bipartisanship, and it's kind of a bad thing that it's gone.

You don't like voting to support sick leave for rail workers? No problem, you can say that your reluctant vote was because the bill also provided funds for a bridge in your state... Kind of transactional and gross but it made for more give and take on both sides.

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gotmewrong66 t1_iymbhrc wrote

Of course he was, how was it gonna benefit him personally?

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im_at_work_now t1_iymbz5m wrote

And how much are profits up over the last 2 years? 8-10% is the YOY figure.

Put another way.... In the first 3 months of this year alone, the rail industry made just shy of $22 BILLION in profits. The additional 7 sick days cost them $321 million for the whole year, or 80 million. With an m. Not a b.

80,000,000 / 22,000,000,000 = 0.0036

That's less than half of one percent of the profits

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106473 t1_iymbzs8 wrote

No, it's caused more divide than anything to allow party politics to dictate "give and take" with our society. You either vote for the bill or not on it's merits not because you get something out of it.

Unethical.

0

Shambro1111 t1_iymdwpm wrote

6 days is fine. I don’t see a problem

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B0MBOY t1_iymei75 wrote

I’ve been ripping on him for years and people were always like “how could you say that he’s a good dude”. Now y’all are finally seeing it too

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KFCConspiracy t1_iymeocc wrote

I suspect his motive was "cause chaos" because he does not have a history of being pro-workers rights in any way. I think if there were a republican president he probably would have voted for this.

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31November t1_iymezub wrote

1000%.

It is a war on the middle and poor class for most politicians. But, I will say that both sides are not equally bad, like I’m afraid many people who see politics through the rich v. everyone else lens tend to see it.

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djarvis77 t1_iymic3j wrote

Rural and older voters. They always vote and they always vote republican.

Urban and young voters stopped showing up in PA from after the 2012 general until, really, this past Nov. We'll see next May/Nov (2023) if they returned for good or if this past year was a flash in the pan.

Next years vote is for PA Supreme Court, Superior and commonwealth courts and the mayor of Philly.

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reverendsteveii t1_iymiwau wrote

Fun fact: the vote was 52-43 in favor of giving the workers sick leave. When the vote is on whether to give the masters another unfunded tax break 51-49 is enough to pass it, but when a vote to do something for workers comes up and it's 52-43 the 43 wins. The game is rigged.

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tailspin64 t1_iymiynd wrote

It seems many of younger voters did show up thats why no red wave. Older voters have all day to vote on a work day. Younger ones in college or working tons of hours to get by dont have all day to stand in line. 2012 didnt have mail in and drop off boxed or early vote. They made it hard for younger people to vote and thats why we have idiots like pat tomey

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Suffeken t1_iymjeff wrote

So everyone is happy with fucking the union over by forcing them to take a contract they didn't want in the first place, then also removing their ability to strike/protest because they're under contract? Lol wow. Some backward ass thinking going on. Unions are good when filling Democrat candidate pockets, but bad when they have actual power to effect change, am I right? How dare workers have power.

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IamSauerKraut t1_iymjevw wrote

Fetterman is an Albright grad, with an MBA from UConn, followed later by 1 year at Harvard's K-School. Toomey was the Harvard grad (in the traditional sense). The Big Unit will follow a path for his constituents. He'll not take orders from Schumer.

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pervert_hoover t1_iymjinq wrote

I'm sure you're right about that. I just think that looking only at the sick leave vote really buries the lede, which is that every democratic senator except 6 (7 if you count Bernie) and most of the Republicans voted bulldoze collective bargaining and force workers back to work.

How can people cheer on Amazon and Starbuck unionization, and then at the same time be totally OK with this?

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SuperRocketRumble t1_iymjis4 wrote

No No no no

Haven’t you heard?

This is all Biden’s fault

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Plazmon t1_iymjmp6 wrote

Hope they fucking annihilated this precious consumer economy before christmas

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dominantspecies t1_iymk3ui wrote

As if I needed another reminder that Toomey is a piece of shit.

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djarvis77 t1_iyml10s wrote

He voted against the sick days. He knew the Senate would pass the contract bill (no matter which way he voted) with or without the sick days.

Therefore he was absolutely willing to force the workers to take a contract they didn't want.

This is just a "Fuck You" vote. You will notice that Cruz and Rubio did vote for the sick days. They wanted to get the workers what they need...but didn't want to force them to take the contract.

Similar to, say, Sanders or Hickenlooper, who voted in favor of the sick days but voted against the contract. That is an example of "wasn't going to force workers to take a contract they didn't agree with".

Toomey's "fuck you" vote was purely just that. A "Fuck you" to the working people and the democratic party.

Toomey is just a piece of shit that doesn't care about the workers or the economy or the american people. He got his, "fuck you" (not you reddit person, the royal you).

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djarvis77 t1_iymlyf2 wrote

Not really. If Toomey was voting to "be fair" he would have voted like Cruz or Rubio (who voted for the sick days but against forcing the contract). But Toomey voted against both.

Like 98% of republicans who voted, Toomey hates working people and specifically Toomey hates American people.

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worstatit t1_iymnoqs wrote

I agree, but don't see why they should be required to work if legitimately sick, under threat of firing? Like I said, I'm not aware of any of the intricacies involved with this issue. Are they afraid of wildcat sick out strikes or what?

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Sibshops t1_iymq45p wrote

I mean, I don't get sick days, just PTO that I can use on whatever. I don't feel that bad for them that they don't get better benefits than I do.

−1

IamSauerKraut t1_iymu6jr wrote

Personally think it is absurd for any employer to not provide sick time but rail workers are in a different category (along with firefighters and police) where being on the job is necessary beyond the employer's and employee's desire to make money. The sick time should have been voted in as part of any legislative resolution.

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False-Letter-2557 t1_iymuup6 wrote

What else was in the bill? Billions in earmarks? You people are idiots on these sites. No critical thinking.

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Mor_Tearach t1_iymv1hb wrote

This worries me horribly. Z's saved us and right outta the post election gate a Democratic President throws RR workers under the bus.

Someone on another thread for some reason said ' Well RR workers and their votes don't make up much of a percentage of the population ' , hence missing the point. Kids voted for everyone, not just to ensure they're personal demographic benefitted. Seems to me we got them out to effect change. And probably feel betrayed. Heck I sure as hell feel betrayed and I'm a couple generations older.

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wagsman t1_iyn0reg wrote

So did Joe Biden Neo Cons and Neo Libs are basically the same thing. Theyre for the status quo and big business. Fuck em all.

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banstyk t1_iyn4aqd wrote

I wish the article said more - they do say, "seven more sick days" - how many did they already have?

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GraffitiTavern OP t1_iyn7i9a wrote

I think they get some unpaid sick days, but they have to be scheduled with a doctor's permission at least a month in advance, which is useless for any kind of emergency and still makes their lives beholden to the bosses

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Aes_Should_Die t1_iyn82wq wrote

Young people started showing again in 2018. But yes, young people do not realize the power they wield and as a result often stay home and let old people pick the politicians. One good thing about Trump era is that the populace seems to realize they need to get out and vote or they risk losing free society. Yes, this society is far from perfect, but it is so much better than what it could be if the wrong people take and keep power

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GraffitiTavern OP t1_iyn9cdd wrote

And I work in a service job where I don't get ANY PTO, but just because my bosses are screwing me doesn't mean I think the rail workers should be getting thrown under the bus. Even if they get the time, if the scheduling is so restrictive that they can't use it in case of an emergency, where everything needs to be cleared at least a month in advance, that is a serious restriction on their life.

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Dunn_or_what t1_iynd4pr wrote

Big surprise. He's been the most useless senator our state has had in the past 60 years. A total waste of space. He did exactly what he said he would do; NOTHING.

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Mijbr090490 t1_iynenaw wrote

This thing is a whole big mess on both sides of the aisle. Pat Toomey is a scumbag, but why would Congress push the other bill making the strike illegal to begin with if they cared about the wellbeing of the workers. JB was stuck with a shit hand. Dont intervene and allow an economic crisis weeks before Xmas or intervene and kneecap the unions. The rail companies would have eventually caved. There is no way they could cover those positions without incurring massive losses.

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NinjaLanternShark t1_iynpv4j wrote

If you want to know more, research "precision railroad scheduling" in your news outlets of choice. It's railroad's version of "just in time" manufacturing -- basically squeezing every dollar of value out of the railroad that you can.

This means if train A is scheduled to go from city B to city C, it absolutely positively can not be delayed, or the effects will keep rippling for days, because there's no margin or buffer at all.

That's why they're fighting sick days so hard. If someone calls out sick with no notice, it costs the railroad way more than the value of that person's salary for the day.

Of course, they could fix this by hiring more people, but, PRS is why sick days is such a sticking point.

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SmokeChaser426 t1_iynqcac wrote

Yeah, Republicons really do care about the workers of America Absolute piece of Maggot excrement
Just a thought

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SmokeChaser426 t1_iynqt67 wrote

With the Dems taking control of the State legislatior, no excuse mail in voting should be able to pass and hopefully expanding the voting window so more people can vote Just a thought

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NewYork_607 t1_iynu9wy wrote

Democrats have done way more for the working class. Republicans shutdown cheap insulin, voted against healthcare, voted against COVID help; and now voted against the railroad workers basic demands. There’s a reason why there’s more poor people in republican states.

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blazinbevcrusher t1_iynw5aw wrote

It was truly incredible to see how much the younger voters came out and voted during the midterms. Please, please keep that same energy for 2024 and after. Remember that local and state elections are arguably more important than presidential elections.

Also remember that direct action is more important than all elections. Do what you can to help out and change your community.

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StealthDonkeytoo t1_iynz4v9 wrote

I mean, in fairness he’s just getting a head start on his upcoming 7 figure lobbyist job for whatever industry needs a polished shill - be it the pharmaceuticals, big oil, or the train execs.

1

mamabrew t1_iyob2ko wrote

I called him to make sure he knew how i felt about it. And what he needs to do the next time. You should ring him up and say something too. (202) 224-4254

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Berkyjay t1_iyofynp wrote

>Pat Toomey was one of the 43 Senators who kept sick leave from rail workers

FTFY. They never had sick leave.

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Reddwolf02 t1_iyogm2n wrote

Toomey has always been an asshole that needs to go!

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slappy500000 t1_iyoz64r wrote

Who cares what they say id still strike

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randomnighmare t1_iypl0gn wrote

This will be remembered as one of Pat's last acts as Senator. Which is shitting on workers.

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SaltResearcher4 t1_iyqw4zi wrote

>How can people cheer on Amazon and Starbuck unionization, and then at the same time be totally OK with this?

Railroad collective bargaining comes second to the US economy. A strike at Starbucks does not disrupt every other industry.

1