I Have No Idea What I'm Doing
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- Hosted by Andrew Huster and Aaron LM Goodwin
Join us on a wondrous journey through whatever’s on our minds this week. We have no idea what we’re doing. But we’re trying.
You’re only a worker if you’re a guy who hits things with a hammer.
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We’re not sick but we’re not well
- The Tailgates of San Bernardino County Returns
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- Car Wash Vertical
- Patreon reminder
- RAIL STRIKE A PALOOZA
- Background
- 12 different unions, 115,000 workers
- PSR: bad
- We have previously discussed this on the program
- Rail workers have not had a contract since 2020
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They currently have zero (0) sick days and would like some
The two major issues addressed in the September 15 deal brokered by the White House between the railroads and the BLET and SMART-TD were health care costs and time off for medical appointments.
Press reports made it sound like the deal would create three sick days for railroad workers. But once the actual language came out, what was created turned out to be something less than sick time: heavily circumscribed, unpaid time off for routine or preventative medical appointments, on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday with at least 30 days notice, plus no attendance penalties for hospitalization or surgery.
https://labornotes.org/2022/10/we-are-not-done-yet-railroad-track-workers-reject-deal
- BNSF Hi-Vis and other draconian attendance policies
- Misleading nonsense from AAR
- “On average, railroaders earn $135,000 annually in total pay and benefits, which is higher than the average compensation of industries that employ 94 percent of the U.S. workforce.”
- That includes “benefits”
- “The average salary for a rail conductor is $67,660 and $73,490 for an engineer, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”
- https://newrepublic.com/post/169219/did-union-joe-biden-doom-democrat-push-rail-workers-paid-sick-leave
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https://perfectunion.us/rail-profits-soaring-at-workers-expense/
In 2001, leading American freight carriers CSX, KC Southern, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific earned average operating margins of about 15%. That means that after accounting for all the costs associated with running a railroad (including money spent on compensation & benefits), for every $100 of revenue, investors were left with $15 of profit. Twenty years later that number has skyrocketed to over $41.
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Buybacks and Dividends
Since 2010, all 7 class I’s have paid out $136 BB ($146 BB in inflation adjusted dollars) in stock buybacks and cash distributions by BNSF to its owner. On top of that, the class I’s have paid $47 BB ($50 BB in inflation adjusted dollars) in dividends during the same period. Thus, since 2010, the RR’s owners have taken home more than an astounding $183 BB ($196 BB in inflation adjusted dollars) in buybacks and dividends, far more than the $138BB ($150 BB in inflation adjusted dollars) spent on the RR’s infrastructure.
https://www.stb.gov/wp-content/uploads/NARS-Speech-9-8-21.pdf
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Layoffs
Class I railroads have reduced their workforce by 29 percent over the past six years, according to the unions. In the middle of the supply snarl last summer [2021], Union Pacific closed service for a week between Los Angeles and Chicago, two key hubs, due to a lack of equipment or manpower.
https://prospect.org/economy/railroad-profit-making-strategy-comes-at-a-cost/
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PSR is (sort of) the cause
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Why No Paid Leave
- https://prospect.org/labor/rail-impasse-your-questions-answered/
- Background
- FTX Collapse Takes Down The Abolish ICE Guy
- For Sure, Man
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MORMONS MOST DISCRIMINATED GROUP
https://twitter.com/cliffsmithzbrdz/status/1597277510118834177?s=12&t=Fz1I8j5Yc–1lrCE42Xg1Q
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Rail workers: not workers
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Counterpoint: no, keep him away from anything nuclear
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