A looming railroad strike is threatening to shut down much of the nation’s commerce, creating an economic and humanitarian disaster, and Joe Biden is finally making moves to prevent it. What’s his solution? He’s taking the coward’s way out, calling for Congress to put union workers in their place despite the fact that they make up a large percentage of the Democratic Party base.
That’s going over about as well as you’d imagine. A fair warning that the language in the following posts is a bit frosty, but it represents the anger being shown.
It is exceedingly rare in the US for the White House to have direct control over union negotiations. This one was a layup. Put forward a bill to include paid sick days. Costs the rail carriers a fraction of their insane profits. Improves freight rail service. And Biden refuses.
— Jonah Furman (@JonahFurman) November 28, 2022
Do you know what’s so great about this? The fact that I don’t care at all. Not even a little bit. Union workers have had decades to sort their politics out, and for the most part, they have still voted overwhelmingly for Democrats. In 2020, a shift by some of them away from Donald Trump and over to Joe Biden probably decided the election in blue-collar states like Pennsylvania and Michigan. They chose that self-destructive path, and I’ve got no sympathy for them now having to suffer under the consequences of that decision.
Yes, I realize that some union membership, especially dealing with the railroad industry, is compulsory. Still, the same far-left hacks are voted into positions of leadership within those unions and the money keeps flowing to Democrat coffers. Further, the vast majority of union workers keep voting for Democrats themselves. What do they get in return? Absolutely nothing, especially if we are talking about the transportation and energy sectors that Biden and his allies are looking to make obsolete through draconian policies.
At some point, it’s no one’s fault but their own that they keep putting up with this abuse. Think about it. These railroad unions were so subservient to Biden that they agreed to a tentative deal to push the fight off until after the last election knowing they’d later try to renegotiate it. No doubt, the White House gave them a wink and a nod as well. These union members screwed the United States populace, postponing a political disaster for Democrats that could have cost them the election, thinking they were going to get their pound of flesh afterward. That they are now being betrayed is actually poetic.
Honestly, I hope Republicans have the backbone to not bail Biden out here by voting in Congress to force the railroad workers to keep working. He set himself on fire with one of his chief constituencies. Let him burn. Maybe, just maybe, these blue-collar unions will finally learn their lesson in the process.
