Can corporations be too big to strike? Hell no.
My art is on Instagram @klonskyart.
This morning Congress is debating the terms of a labor settlement that they would impose on the union rail workers.
A deal that President Biden negotiated earlier fell apart when members of four of the unions rejected it and the other unions who accepted it announced they would honor any strike.
Chief among the issues are sick days. Currently rail workers must use their paid vacation days if they take time off for illness.
Like during the pandemic.
Some progressives in Congress are trying to include sick days in the imposed contract settlement.
That is good but would never have happened without the threat of a strike.
It begs the question as to why Congress has never thought to legislate sick days for all workers.
Most of the industrialized world has a system of paid sick leave.
Switzerland, for example, offers up to 103 weeks of paid leave for illness. That's more than 2 years. This time is paid at 80% of the employee's salary.
Paid sick leave should be available to all workers whether they are unionized or not.
What is grossly unfair is for Congress to side with the corporate side of the bargaining table.
Only members of the union should have the right to whether to accept a contract that governs their pay and working conditions.
In justifying going around the collective bargaining process President Biden has raised the fear of the economic impact a strike would have.
That’s exactly the point of a strike or threat of a strike: Withholding labor that costs the bosses money.
That’s the leverage labor has.
Biden’s logic is that the bigger the corporation the more they need protection from labor action.
Based on this thinking, only strikes that have little or no economic impact should be permitted.
Back when I was involved in organizing campaigns, some people would hesitate because of a perception that union people were getting "special privileges."
Actually, I would tell them, they were entitled to some privileges too.
After the Civil War ended and my great grandfather came back the agricultural sector was being squeezed. The railroad saved him. He got a job as a track laborer and could support his family. He never went back. His sons went to work for the railroads also.
The work was very hard, better than the farm, but still very hard. My grandfather died early, worn out by the job. I never knew my grandfather.
It's shameful that they aren't paid for their sick days.