spiderjohn36
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11
Employees have the right to be safe on the job. They should not be "canaries in the coal mines". We need strong unions again. The industrialists continue to fight safety legislation and promote deregulation, all to the detriment of the worker and consumer alike.
Sauce:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/20/ohio-derailment-train-rail-workers
Soundtrack (Pete Seeger's version of Which Side Are You On):
https://youtu.be/5iAIM02kv0g
"Who gets the bird, the hunter or the dog." John L. Lewis, former president of the UMWA
"Unionization, as opposed to communism, presupposes the relation of employment; it is based upon the wage system and it recognizes fully and unreservedly the institution of private property and the right to investment profit." John L. Lewis
"I am opposing a social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely enough for a wretched existence." Eugene V. Debs
psmith00
to hell with them. Document the damages, the problems, the safety issues they ignored and sue them into the ground.
Grahz27
Should've had the strike anyway. Hell, we need to organize like the UK and France. Hoping their disruption pays off, at least.
StarShineSurreal
thatwoodguy
It took the derailment in Cajon Pass in California plus the subsequent oil pipeline rupture to get them to do better paperwork.
Phischstaebchen
I like how USA still tries to get their own Chernobyl even after 3-Mile-Island failed.
FnordGallop
They should do a strike about it. Wait... hang on... that's right...
AoShin
They should strike in protest. Oh wait both Rs and Ds prevented them from striking and forced them to give in to the corporations. USA! USA!
ElectricGears
That's a bullshit headline. It didn't REVEAL anything. It CONFIRMED what the rail workers had been saying and captured regulators ignored.
ChallengerDeep
Chernobyl, Ohio.
jridley
It would be a great step for this country to just undo everything that happened in DC during Trump's presidency.
JackingMeHoff
Why are there 12 RR unions? Merge, become one strong union so workers can get 7 paid sick days, min 2 week paid vacation + others benefits.
unluckyandbored
Sorry. The administration has already decided to do nothing.
MrYsGuy
In other news, water is wet. More at 11.
InoffensivePablum
This issue WAS NOT INFRASTRUCTURE. It would have been prevented by the Obama era brake upgrade rules that Trump reversed.
sadurdaynight
This will come down to whatever the actuaries for the company calculate as being "most profitable", and then the company trying to enact it.
catskhiker
VOTE THE REPUGNANTS OUT
Zreen
"reveals need for urgent reform" revealed? *Revealed*? The hell did people think the strikes were about? Ffs
ihatethetv
Bro, did you see NS had another derailment before this is even out of the news cycle. Way to go guys
samanthadlcruz
and now factories are exploding in Ohio - stay away from Ohio!!!
FlatPlutoSociety
The government made it very clear that they don't give a single fuck what rail workers want or need just like two months ago.
Bystandr
The workers or any union lack the legal might to make it happen. It will require independent government oversight.
ChickenROAR
That's just some worker. But what does a CEO say? Truely their knowledge and experience speaks wisdom.
xj4low
That is is safe enough that he won't be there or the town hall meeting he won't attend due to "his own physical safety." Someone give (1
xj4low
2) the board a nice big glass of water from the wells and ask them to take a drink if it is really safe.
dudehiemer
Are these the workers the US's Federal Government said, "Fuck you, you can't strike because you don't need days off & corps need profits?"
nlky
Yes.
SirenBrick
They were also protesting lack of safety enforcement and no maintenance, on top of bad schedules and no time off.
Filanwizard
Yep, heck nobody even filibustered it when it was in the senate.
Filanwizard
The mass media portrayed it as the workers vs the economy and Christmas shopping. Rather than corporate greed and Wall Street vs the workers
NomadUniverse
A lot of people seem to have the false impression the aftermath of the derailment will last for decades. It is largely dealt with already
NomadUniverse
However that doesn't detract from the point made in the article that regulations need a serious overhaul. It's only a matter of time before
NomadUniverse
it is something that will affect a town for decades.
fractalsphere
ALL profits incurred after this accident should go to environmental recovery. Not a dime as profit until its cleaned up.
NomadUniverse
It has for the most part already been cleaned up. the chemicals spilled dissipate within days. It has already been weeks. The only work left
NomadUniverse
to do as far as the chemicals are concerned is further site monitoring, treatment plant analyses etc., to make triple sure they got it all.
xj4low
It will take 20+ years to know the full extent of the impact this has had on people and their health. I'm guessing property is already down.
NomadUniverse
False. The chemicals spilled dissipate quickly, in days, and what they didn't manage to clean up immediately has already dispersed.
Clockworkdancerobot
Not just unionization, but some rails are in such bad condition as to create the derailments? We need nationalization.
redsmerf
But wont somebody think of the billionaire's profits! /s
ThomasHarris111
Ew socialist Marxist communist evil bad trigger word trigger word incoherent rambling. /s if it's not clear
ChiLLeCheeze
I call it Commulist. NOT associated with communists or socialists. They have nothing do with each other at all.
VaultGirl69
Clearly whoever oversees the rail corporations are also getting checks from them. Too many conflicts of interest in our gov't.
Clockworkdancerobot
Mostly meant those owning the rails. Keep things up to spec, maintenance in good shape, let companies use the rails for a fee.
VaultGirl69
They make enough money. Especially for what a shit employer they apparently are.
spiderjohn36
I completely agree.
Clockworkdancerobot
If a company cannot or will not keep up vital infastructure it has NO business being in charge of it.
mizzamir
If infrastructure is vital, it has no business being owned by anyone but the public. If it's vital, it absolutely must belong to all of us.
blackcat360
Lol as a railroad worker I have work rules that are actually physically impossible to follow.
spiderjohn36
So I've heard. I've got friends and family that work in the industry. And yes, most of them are or were Norfolk Southern employees.
shyasen
Can you give an example? I am genuinely curious, but also this does not surprise me.
AriBoBari
When traveling west, must simultaneously go east.
blackcat360
On call 24/7 with no set schedule and 2hr notice. Yet have to be rested for work and it’s against the rules to fall asleep when stopped.
blackcat360
So we get 10hrs where they can’t call us, you have to sleep in case they call at the 10hr mark. Sometimes it’s 18 or 24 to a 12hr shift.
blackcat360
They will watch you on camera, had a coworker charged with sleeping because he was still for 3 mins sitting up in the chair while stopped.
blackcat360
I need more space to do a good write up. The strike wasn’t for sick days it was for work life balance. Somehow it got twisted.