It Doesn’t Matter That Rail Union Members Are Republican

A listener writes in to say that Biden doesn't need to worry about rail workers voting against him because they're already Republican. Sam says that isn't the point. Biden's treatment of the rail workers will resonate across labor unions and greatly damage Democrats' chances with on of their most powerful voting blocks.

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100 support the workers but real talk how many of those Union guys actually vote for Democrats? 40-50 percent? Just a raw political calculus. speaking specifically about the rail Union check the demographics. I get your point but I think the symbolic part and I happen to believe that they're like mainstream Democrats people in general don't care that much. They really don't. They would have cared much more about the strike happening and things. But I think for the base of the democratic party a significant portion of the base of Democratic Party is something that's going to sting for you know into the next election they got to do something about it. Most cops are union members but if I'm a Democratic president I have to go to the mat for the PBA or IP ibps versus the teachers union or SEIU. I'm not going to get beat down by a bunch of cops that don't vote for me. Yeah, but it's it I agree with you. I think even within the labor movement there's some questions about cops unions. There is no question amongst the labor you know amongst labor supporters were Railway Striker were Railway workers are so. Sam Sam's rugged good looks: Thank you not only should rail workers strike without regard to what Congress says but should every other strong union in solidarity. The problem is and I think on some level it's you know it would be nice if there was the level of support and solidarity that could sustain something like that but the moment they go on strike their unions will be fined out of existence the people can go to jail.

[ComradeCatpurrnicus]

The idea of the National Gaurd being called in to be scab labor for the greedy corporations screwing workers and their capacity to unionize and collectively bargin is sickening.

[Kataquan]

It DOES MATTER in that we need to message to these people better so they realize they're voting the most harshly against their own class interest.

But that's the extent that it matters

[twochordcool]

Dude, I'm on a railroad, you need qualifications to work in many positions. I don't know how many qualified scabs they can find.

[scottlarue]

I’ve found that most people want the same things: a decent shot at living comfortably, a safe community, a good education and opportunities for their children, the possibility of retiring one day, and meaning in their life. All of these are very reasonable asks.

Which party people vote for is unimportant and only creates divisions. Voting for either of the two major parties is voting against your own interests for anyone other than the one percent.

[EpicVideoMaster]

Republicans are still people, we should do things for all people especially workers who are willing to take action, strike, and unionize regardless of who they vote for regularly. If anything this should be a chance to show them who really supports worker's rights.

(Truthfully it's neither side but one side has more politicians that actually care)

[torfinnzempel]

Democrats breaking the Rail Strike is a great way to convince many who are likely apolitical that they should join the Republican party. Forcing the rail companies to accept the Union demands or not stopping the strike is how you convince those apolitical, or even Republican Union members, that the Democrats are their actual alley.

[gabrielsatter]

When does it become legal for them to strike?

[NotShowingOff]

The railway labor act should be abolished

[craigbradford]

Union members aren’t any different from other Americans. They’ll vote against their best interests time and again. Rural states do it, union members do it too.

[Honorbound]

ive been on union forums where a lot of railway workers are posting. it's my understanding from them that this not like the air traffic control. national guard cannot be used to simply replace rail workers that are striking. it takes at least 8 months of training to understand the engineering

[childofmusic]

I hate the party tribalism shat. It should be policy over parties.

[ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos]

Helping them so they will see how dem policies help them is a pretty solid campaigning strategy

[piccalillipit]

*WORKERS ARE WORKERS* Republican workers are just voting against their own interests - but they are still workers.

[sudhisira]

Well, the listener seems to be blissfully unaware of how this happened in the first place. It was because the Donorcrat Party abandoned the working class.

[DerAptrgangr]

I work for the USPS. The Mail Handler union (mine) is very strong at my facility, and good in general. Our union usually supports mainstream Democrats. We have several reps that are conservative/republican.

I find that weird as shit, given so much conservative narrative about unions - but whatever. They are my coworkers, and they deserve the union's advocacy, even if they (unknowingly) vote for candidates that would like to weaken the union.

When I was a rep for the union, my personal advocacy for them had nothing to do with their politics. I was protecting and advocating for my fellow laborers.

As for police unions - the fact that they have union representation itself isn't the problem. It's whom they vote into leadership into their unions, how their unions threaten cities to capitulate to entirely unreasonable union demands, and how unions protect violent abusers, murderers, racists, and those who protect them.

If I get caught stealing mail, I get canned. Boom, immediately. I'll get canned, I'll have charges pressed against me. And the union? They're done with me. That's behavior that isn't excusable or defensible.

Cops who murder people on video? The union does everything in its power to defend that cop, and the cops who stood idly by while the murder took place. Union reps will slander the murder victim. The union will threaten the city with delayed police response times if the city tries to hold any cops accountable.

Laborers deserve unions. The kind of unions that the police have are the problem. Not the fact that they have unions, but what we've all collectively let police unions become.

[DerAptrgangr]

As far as the viability of a strike - I'm not 100% sure that Sam is right.

In '69, postal workers across the country went on strike. It was illegal for them to do so. The strike lasted 3 days before the government caved. There weren't criminal repercussions, even though hundreds of thousands of people openly broke the law. It was crippling enough that there wasn't time to get scabs to fill all the positions to keep the mail moving.

The rail system is even more vital to the economy than the mail was, I'm pretty sure. I'm not sure that, if with rail workers strike, they could get enough scabs quick enough.

So I think it's plausible that a heavy enough rail strike could break the government, forcing them to pass a mandate with enough concessions to get the rails back online. The fact is, I'm not sure there are enough National Guard members who are also competent train engineers. That's where the primary rub would be. Specially trained scabs can be hard to come by. The economic damage might be severe enough to force the bargaining table to open up.

On the other hand, I feel like capitalist, anti-labor propaganda is really effective right now. If they can spin all the problems as the fault of the workers, and if they are willing to mobilize the National Guard and law enforcement to break the strike with violence... They might.

So I could see it going either way, but it certainly isn't so cut and dry as Sam seems to think.

[rabidgoon]

every rail worker i've ever known personally was a flaming right-winger, most of them bordering on being fascist. one of them did nothing but complain about his own union on facebook until i eventually blocked him because it was so exhausting to constantly see him whine about how the union was 'holding him down'.

[circumventreality]

The lack of legal protections for an illegal strike including fines that may bankrupt the union or jailtime, are only an issue if indeed the scabs can reasonably replace them--bc if the workers win, they would also demand that those fines and jailtime be rescinded--as I believe we can see historically with other illegal strikes (NYC Transit from around 2010-2015, as well as some teachers' strikes come to mind, but there are others).

We should have severe doubts about the corporations' and gov't ability to replace people on a job that is already running short-staffed and requires specific knowledge and training that National Guard and scabs simply do not have and will be difficult to find people to train them.

The difference with the PATCO strike which is always brought up as a boogeyman (understandably) is that A. military ATCs were able to take their place immediately and help train the civilian scabs (who were offered very good pay) and B. the AFL-CIO, major unions, and independent workers movements did not solidarity strike (regardless of illegality).

Railway workers should not be asked to strike ON THEIR OWN illegally. To guarantee their success and resolution of the strike as quickly as possible, the AFL-CIO and Teamsters especially, with or without class collaborationist leaders, must strike simultaneously--illegal or not.

That is why we must have lines of communication open between workers regardless of politics for these critical periods. We must be able to get around the leadership if necessary.

In addition, the national guard will be stretched very thin--there is only so much they can do if they attempt to do these jobs AND hold back all kinds of other strike actions at the same time.

If the government decides to use violence to quell any strike action, we must be prepared to broadcast and rebroadcast this, in order to bring people to our side who can support the strikes in many ways, as well as inoculate them against lies the government will tell (including the usual accusations of economic terrorism, that the workers instigated the violence, etc).

We must be prepared for alternative communication as the FBI and local law enforcement attempt to suppress all communication on the side of the workers.

Even in the unlikely event the scabs can successfully operate the freight lines anywhere near expected, and even if union leaders are arrested as a deterrent, all kinds of people on the outside from all walks of life(especially unemployed or underemployed) can gum up the works.

But none of these escalations will happen if we cannot communicate to everyone that this is a reasonable and necessary plan of action.

In summary, illegal strikes mean one thing: Be prepared to win, or don't fight at all. If we win, all their threats of punishment are nullified. But we cannot ask of the rail workers or anyone else what we are not willing to do ourselves.

[StanlyTheWolf]

No one wants to take the risk anymore, and that’s why a strike like that will almost never happen again. Most people are cowards, and don’t have the community to sustain that kind of strike either. The ruling class have successfully separated us.

[asunnynight]

If they went on strike that would've been devastating.