A few years back, the US rail companies all adopted a management program that promised to raise profits while cutting costs. Yippy Skippy... right?
One of the ways it did that was to eliminate about 30% of the rail worker positions. To make the trains go with that reduced staff required the workers left to be treated like cogs in a machine. They had to be available at any time to go any place for any length of time. Their schedule, if it can be called that, was produced by a computer that looked at loads, trains, tracks, and workers. This went from scheduling out months in advance to scheduling days, if not hours in advance.
The thing is... the railroad engines were scheduled for maintenance and upkeep, but the rail workers were not. Sick days were eliminated, and with their schedule being the equivalent of 24/7/Always, everything but work went out the window.
Yes, the rail companies treat their rail workers exactly like cogs. It's a very simple 'Be there or be replaced' policy. If you take off sick, or with a child emergency, or a dying wife, you risk losing the job.
That's what the current strike threats were all about. Knowing that such a strike would make the administration look bad, the Biden team convinced the unions to hold off striking till after the election. Now that the election is over and the Democrats got what they wanted, they reneged on the promise (as always) and told the union workers to suck it up and do what they were ordered.
Well, the Biden team can legally force a contract through that continues treating the union workers like cogs, but it can't physically force them to keep the job.
I suspect we are going to see issues coming down the tracks real, real soon.
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