"The Senate voted on Thursday to reject a proposal to give railway workers seven days of sick leave, a benefit that was left out of a labor deal brokered by the presidential emergency board between freight rail companies and unionized workers."
:death-to-the-poor:
I want to lay out just what "striking anyways" means.
If a union's leadership declares a wildcat strike, the union can be de-certified by the AFL-CIO and by the NLRB. They can be held liable for damages, draining their treasury. Leadership can be imprisoned. It has very real consequences.
Here's the thing: illegal strikes still happen. The question is, how?
Usually, the answer is a robust network of shop-stewards. In the olden days, that was the core of a union. Now, paid staff who don't work on the shopfloor are the core of most unions (Workers United, UNITE-HERE, UE and ILWU are exceptions. SEIU, AFSCME and IBT are the rule). For a union to get back to that system, like Chicago Teachers' Union did, takes years of organizing to build that network.
If they strike or run a campaign of sabotage (sometimes called "working without a contract"), it will be because militants have been building a network of stewards. If they don't fight, it's because staffers still control the union and have been cowed by the government.
If you want to see wildcat railroad strikes, then it's time to start mobilizing leftists into the railroad industry and time to start building a network of stewards.
Organize Your Workplace
:iww: