Why America’s Railroads Refuse to Give Their Workers Paid Leave

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/11/rail-strike-why-the-railroads-wont-give-in-on-paid-leave-psr-precision-scheduled-railroading.html

by shalmanese • 4 years ago

30 29 4 years ago

nymag.com

V__2• 4 years ago

A single day without functioning freight rail would cost the U.S. economy an estimated $2 billion.
the seven dominant North American railways had a combined net income of $27 billion, nearly twice their margin a decade ago. In the interim, the railways have collectively doled out $146 billion in dividends and stock buybacks while investing only $116 billion into their businesses.

7 sick days, which is laughable, but this is all they want. How the government can even think about taking the companies side here is totally outside my understanding.

ianai• 4 years ago

Stock buybacks were outlawed after the Great Depression and a widespread realization that buybacks are insider trading.

The cynic in me says people have forsaken their local and national governments and this is the fruit of their inattention. Democracy and electing representatives requires work from the citizens. Want politicians to vote for more paid leave for rail workers? Write your representatives and make it an issue you vote upon over a period of time. Also put aside the echo chambers and study reality. Facts are the lifeblood of this country so learn them and shun shameful liars and grifters.

And ditch the animosity. No more “owning the libs”, no more sitting back and saying your government is failing. Ie no more “America in decline”-ism aka “decline-ism”. No more silly platitudes that masquerade as progress but amount to letterhead activism. Do some real work for the better of your fellows for an extended period of time.

Edit-Treat others the exact, one correct way to treat each other. As ends unto themselves and never as means to ends. That would demand more than simply adding some pronouns to vocabulary and would include things like paid leave, health care, and livable wages. Insisting upon basic quality of life measures for all workers and citizens. It’d also look like respecting each other enough to, if pressed, agree to disagree when nothing else can be agreed.

Edit-It’d also look like always plunking down a 20% tip on your fast food orders and restaurant meals. Treating the UPS delivery person with dignity and gratitude. Ceasing the road rage. Etc.

feet2• 4 years ago

Thank you for the well thought out comment. Current day US politics are absolutely absurd, it's a show to distract the public while capital owners continue to enrich themselves off the backs of everyone else. We need our politicians to actually step up and do something for the workers of the country who keep things running. Not more of the culture war bs. This goes for all political denominations

djbebs2• 4 years ago

There is nothing wrong with stock buybacks, and the only people negatively affected by them are the investors who own the business.

moistly• 4 years ago

Stock buybacks were outlawed after the Great Depression and a widespread realization that buybacks are insider trading.

And of course it was Ronald Reagan who began the regulatory capture of the SEC by appointing a Wall Street executive to head it. So much of what’s wrong can be traced back to Ronnie.

djbebs2• 4 years ago

The government shouldn't be taking any side.

V__2• 4 years ago

Why not? It is an essential industry with the potential to cause an enormous economic disruption. If the government doesn't want to nationalize it, then it should get involved and prevent stubborn executives from creating an unnecessary crisis.

tehwebguy• 4 years ago

Would absolutely love to see someone try to stop me from striking.

feet2• 4 years ago

It has happened before, police and private security did it with guns and violence. Workers died.

than38• 4 years ago

Directive 10-289 looms.

https://theexplanationproject.fandom.com/wiki/Directive_10-2...

dopylitty• 4 years ago

If the railroads are so critical they should be nationalized so the inventors’ silly profit taking games don’t impact the broader society.

sschueller2• 4 years ago

It should be government owned or like in Switzerland the rail company should be majority owned by the government. It requires a lot of money to maintain and it may run at a loss for years but it is vital for a country to operate. The losses occured by rail are made up in GDP by other industry that can thrive because of it.

It is not something that should be gambled with.

than38• 4 years ago

You do know this is socialism, and you've not addressed any of the key issues that occur in socialist systems.

Why would you think this would ever work?

If you tried to go out and build a skyscraper with no engineering knowledge, how well do you think that would go?

fatnoah• 4 years ago

Based on the article, it seems like the real issues is that, like many industries, railroads have ruthlessly sought efficiency, and it came at the expense of resiliency. The networks, schedules, and systems are so brittle, and staffing levels so low that they can't bear people being "unexpectedly" absent.

Of course, this brings to mind the saying: "Your failure to plan is not my emergency."

nobodyandproud3• 4 years ago

Not the railroads, at least not inititally.

The activist investors—a hedge fund in this case, kick started a toxic environment—are the ones that destroyed the more traditional management and squeezed out more profits.

“ A decade ago, the activist investor Bill Ackman won a proxy battle at Canadian Pacific and proceeded to replace its management with a team led by Hunter Harrison, the railway executive who’d pioneered P.S.R. After imposing the gospel of “more with less” at Canadian Pacific, Harrison left to spread the good news to the freight giant CSX. At each firm, P.S.R. succeeded at generating higher returns. ”

than38• 4 years ago

Nothing about 1966 legislature, the Penn Central Bankruptcy (Fraud) by bankers orchestrating a bailout, or the Surface Transportation Board charter (1996)?

than38• 4 years ago

This article has almost no relevant information. The comments are not very educated from what I've seen so far.

There have been no significant increases in labor pay matching inflation for years (every year workers have taken a loss).

Additionally, the remainder of the industry is as good as nationalized which started with legislation in 1966, and worsened with the charter of the Surface Transportation Board in 1996.

Railroads can't raise their own rates to increase their profit, despite costs. Little investment has been forthecoming for the industry prompting loans from the government which don't fix the fundamental problem.

There were even points where railroads had to have a bailout because of fraud on the bankers parts, which as far as I know was never actually punished.

The simple fact is, inflation hits everyone, rates aren't matching inflation, and of course people won't continue to work when their livelihood is threatened.

Ironically, this is a problem you only generally see in centralized, socialist systems. The next clear step is Directive 10-289.

https://theexplanationproject.fandom.com/wiki/Directive_10-2...

Kreutzer2• 4 years ago

Pot calling the kettle black. This has nothing to do with inflation or even pay rate for the workers. It is strictly about quality of life and paid time off.

than38• 4 years ago

No, you are very wrong, and on a brand new account no less so there is always the strong possibility you are one of those trolling bots. Thus my responses will be limited, credibility of new accounts is tenuous at best.

If you were educated you would realize there is a fundamental limit under which real purchasing power cannot go below for any length of time, and rate of pay failing to meet inflation yearly for several decades would eventually reach a breaking point.

Paid time off simply translates into purchasing power, and the fact they can't hire more people because almost no one is willing to enter the industry because there's no profit to be made, and yet everything depends on it running smoothly. They can't raise their prices, have two conductors (god forbid something happen to one in-transit) or even hire security guards to ensure people don't steal from slow moving trains.

If you have the inkling and want to educate yourself, I'd recommend you start with The Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith 1778.

It describes the fundamentals of why our economy worked, and why it has slowly stagnated with the increased legislation (regulation), consolidation (monopolization), and frauds of various entities.

After that, a primer on socialism's key elements (i.e. centralized power structures, (lack of)property rights, monopolistic industry, etc,) and its major failings which is why most people say its responsible for more deaths than any other system (Nazis, Mao, etc).

From there, Wealth and Poverty of Nations by Landis and you should then be able to competently speak.

Why America’s Railroads Refuse to Give Their Workers Paid Leave

Related Stories