this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2023
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[–] foggy 210 points 1 year ago (30 children)

As a Democrat who voted for Biden because he didn't want to see fascism, but was very sore about doing so because Biden is a milquetoast moderate at best...

This is sick. Props.

[–] [email protected] 88 points 1 year ago (10 children)

He's been a lot more progressive in his policies than I think people thought he'd be. He's not flashy about it though, so people tend to only hear the complaining that comes from much louder people

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[–] SasquatchBanana 102 points 1 year ago (14 children)

I ain't a Joe Biden fanboy, but I would like to say if Bernie got elected president and he did this then the streets would go wild. This is insanely (good) that a president is showing so much solidarity and support to striking workers. This gets eyes and ears about the UAW strike, people see this support, they become emboldened, and now start thinking, "Hey, maybe we should strike or unionize..."

This is such a huge win for America and leftism in general. Let's Go Dark Brandon

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Very true. I see Biden as just another neoliberal capitalist, but tbh this is very good to see. Unions are great for society and the working class, and to see a president openly support this is great to see.

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[–] randon31415 70 points 1 year ago

Was coming here to complain about this compared to the rail strike - found out that Biden actually got the rail strikers what they wanted in this thread.

Now I've got to complain something else. Hmmm, how about how Biden isn't proud of his union support. Make noise! Show that unions actually work! Stop acting like unions winning is something is something that you should be ashamed of and hide. Good, still got to complain about something.

[–] [email protected] 65 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The auto strike has a 75% approval rating. That's way bigger than most things in US politics. Not supporting the auto strike is a losing issue.

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[–] [email protected] 53 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is great to see!

Biden may not be a progressive as an individual but his administration's agenda is easily the most progressive of my lifetime--and I was old enough to vote for Obama twice. It would be even more so if Congress gave him progressive bills to sign, too!

So far the biggest positive story of 2023 is the massive increase in labor action across multiple industries.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I feel like I voted for Bernie instead of Biden. Wtf is going on. This is amazing.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Perhaps the man's turned a new leaf in his old age. He ain't perfect, sure, but I'd be lying if I said he wasn't far better than I (or most others) had expected.

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[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 year ago (36 children)
[–] [email protected] 112 points 1 year ago (8 children)

You mean when he in the three months afterwards helped the workers and the union to make sure they got their demands, while also not causing an actual rail shutdown that would cause massive harm to multiple areas?

[–] gibmiser 92 points 1 year ago (2 children)

See if that's true that's sad because that is the best possible outcome and I haven't heard a damn thing about it.

[–] takeda 93 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Here's about rail: https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/23Daily/2306/230620_IBEWandPaid

Biden seems to do a lot of things that don't get much attention or unfairly get bad attention. For example he drastically reduced number of drone strikes (trump actually increased them after Obama, but blocked reporting).

When he lifted sanctions on NS2 he got a lot of bad flak, some even from democrats. Only months later we learned that Russia was planning attack on Ukraine and he was doing it to repair our relationship with Germany. He managed to persuade them to drop it themselves which is how we supposed to deal with allies.

[–] gibmiser 51 points 1 year ago (3 children)

“Without making a big show of it, Joe Biden and members of his administration in the Transportation and Labor departments have been working continuously to get guaranteed paid sick days for all railroad workers."

I'm glad yo hear that not everything has to be a show, but this would be a great message to get out to the progressive democrats

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Wow he ended Precision Scheduled Railroading? Didn't hear that /s

He got them some sick days, but definitely not the whole of their demands.

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[–] Soulg 20 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It's a complete failure of his administration that he said absolutely nothing about this and just allowed everyone to believe that he was against those workers for months.

I found this out a week or so ago and it baffled me that he just said nothing.

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[–] Serinus 30 points 1 year ago

Labor costs, at roughly 5%, remain a small percentage of annual costs for the Detroit automakers

Source - CNBC and Kristin Dziczek, vice president of industry, labor and economics at The Center for Automotive Research

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

“We invite and encourage everyone who supports our cause to join us on the picket line − from our friends and families, all the way up to the president of the United States,” Fain said.

"Guys, I was being rhetorical, now what are we supposed to do?"

[–] Bassman1805 18 points 1 year ago (4 children)

A couple of my friends had the president visit the military base they were stationed at. They said it was by far the worst week of their military career. All the security, and the security for the security, and the security theater on top of those so nobody could think they're taking it less than 150% seriously.

And the cleaning. Oh, the cleaning. Basic training has nothing on the minute bullshit "mess" that you can get in trouble for when the president is visiting in 2 days.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

President Joe Biden has genuinely been one of the more pro-labor presidents in American history. While I strongly disagree with how he handled the rail strikes, the policy coming from his NLRB and the way he's been handling the auto strikes I think are a strong indicator of the policy that he stands for. The United States presidency has an extremely poor track record when it comes to working with labor, and I'll take whatever progress I can get.

[–] takeda 22 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Actually he handled them really well, maybe not so good from the PR point of view, as almost no one reported on it:

https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/23Daily/2306/230620_IBEWandPaid

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[–] doppelgangmember 24 points 1 year ago

American auto companies: "Fuck."

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Unless I misunderstand this, it’s also true that it is now against the law for a railroad worker to strike, and it will stay that way until/unless repealed. Unless something changes, that’s the last raise they can realistically ever get now that they are banned from using their only real lever of power.

Happily, this is a misunderstanding. The block on striking was short and temporary, essentially until the agreement was either accepted or rejected as a whole. The Railway Labor Act is still in effect, but it's been in effect for almost a century now, so that's nothing that's new or changed.

If the unions wanted to take up arms and get people riled up again, there's nothing stopping them from threatening another strike, except for the motivation (and material conditions) of their own members.

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[–] takeda 21 points 1 year ago

First I thought it was onion, but now as I think of it, it is quite smart move. It will be very hard for the companies reject these demands, and hopefully will cause the strike to end soon.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (7 children)

No other politician has learned and evolved like President Joe Biden (Dark Brandon FTW) has. He's cool AF

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (6 children)

He didn't do well with the rail strikers but I guess he's trying to redeem himself. But I prefer that over a President who's consistently against labor, like any Republican one would be.

[–] aski3252 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I guess he's trying to redeem himself

I mean that's one way to put it, but at the end of the day, he isn't some manga anti-hero, he is a politician and politicians want to be elected.

I am pretty sure this is about the UAW's change of attitude that puts immense pressure on Biden, especially that they are withholding their endorsment for Biden until he "earned it". And of course Trump is also trying to suck up to the unions, so Biden has to step up his game.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/09/17/uaw-auto-strike-joe-biden-union/70884657007/

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[–] solstice 20 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Didn't biden just sign anti labor legislation to stop the rail worker strike?

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-signs-bill-block-us-railroad-strike-2022-12-02/

Not sure if we should start lining up to blow him quite yet about this kind of issue. But I'm not familiar enough to fully comment. I'm sure lemmings will line up to tell me why I'm wrong about this..

[–] ericbomb 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] Cryophilia 23 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I’m sure lemmings will line up to tell me why I’m wrong about this…

Is this a bad thing? If you're wrong, it's good to be corrected.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Elections are around the corner.

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