UPDATE: Trying to conceal their vile union-busting, House Democrats approved legislation to force workers to accept an “agreement” they voted to reject, but to cover their tracks also passed a separate bill to allow rail workers paid sick time knowing full well that the Senate would pass the forced-labor bill and scuttle the sick time. Had they actually supported paid sick time for workers, they would have included it in the main bill. Tonight the Senate did exactly that, and Biden’s signature on this vicious anti-worker bill is imminent. If rail workers want to uphold their rights they will have to turn to direct action – either defying the bosses’ government and striking or implementing a strict work-to-rule until the bosses are forced to knuckle under or face the complete collapse of the freight railroad system. (our original post follows)

Stripping Rail Workers of Their Rights

The Biden administration has called on Congress to ram the bosses’ contract terms down the throats of U.S. rail workers who have voted to reject them. Under the Rail Labor Act, the federal government has the right to ban strikes during a cooling-off period, force workers into arbitration [both have already happened] and them impose a new “agreement” on transportation workers if they refuse to knuckle under. South Korea’s president similarly just ordered truck drivers to abandon their strike, but South Korean workers have real unions and so have refused — and other unions have threatened a national general strike if the government proceeds with its threats to jail union officers. Continue reading →