rail strike averted ? with no sick days

[BumRushDaShow]

2. There's a pesky law involved that essentially demands intervention

to ensure that interstate commerce can continue. From what I posted in another thread -

1926 Railway Labor Act

Codified Regulations - 45 USC Ch. 8: RAILWAY LABOR

Congress can create legislation that impacts labor law at any time they want but it's a matter of getting the votes to actually bring it to fruition.

Here is a good article about this - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/why-congress-is-intervening-in-a-labor-dispute-between-railway-companies-and-freight-workers

If a strike were to occur, arbitration via the Presidential Emergency Board would ensue and since that board already proposed a solution earlier this summer, they would probably put forward the same one and it would be imposed (and that proposal was less generous, including in terms of healthcare benefits from what I gather).

Also this is something that needs to be addressed overall at the federal level -

Railroad workers aren’t the only Americans without paid sick days

By Tami Luhby, CNN
Published 8:28 AM EST, Thu December 1, 2022

New York CNN Business — As freight railroad workers look to Congress to provide them with paid sick days, millions of other American employees have no safety net if they fall ill.

The US does not have a national standard on paid sick leave, a rarity among industrialized nations. Roughly 1 in 5 civilian workers lack paid sick days, but the prevalence of the benefit varies widely by occupation and wage, according to federal data. Public sector workers, management and professional employees and higher-earning staffers are more likely to have access to paid sick days.

However, many others are not as fortunate. Roughly one-third of workers in service, construction, extraction and farming occupations don’t have paid sick days. About half of part-time workers lack the benefit, as do more than 40% of those in the lowest quarter of wage earners.

Overall, about 33 million workers have no paid sick days, according to Family Values @ Work Action, an advocacy organization.

(snip)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/01/success/railroad-workers-sick-days/index.html

I know here in Philly, ordinances were put in place for businesses operating in the city with over a certain number of employees, to provide a certain number of sick days (I remember watching the City Council hearings/public discussion on it). There are states (I think CA might be one) that have similar - probably with some kind of sliding scale depending on size of business.