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Re: Trolleria
Author: Oldpoleburner
Date: 10-02-2017 - 14:33
This whole thread has trolleria!
Not only has loose car railroading, common carrier obligations, and many other facets of "Real" railroading long gone aglee; so has the 8 hour day, civil respect, human dignity, honor, and allowance for family life; not to mention "Real" labor unions, real statesmen; and soon to go - any kind of railroading at all.
So All y'all are just arguing over the deck chairs on the Titanic. Go ahead and strike. The President could then go through the only legal rigamarole available to him, but to what end - y'all won't like the outcome anyway.
But what happens if he does nothing and lets the strike continue? Well a whole lot of NOTHING! The economy won't even burp. With less than 10% of the market share and still rapidly falling, railroads ARE just plain irrelevant anymore. What remaining few percent of traffic there still is will just switch to trucks. And though the highways are already jammed with trucks, they'll manage anyway. And having managed just as well if not better than the railroads, most of that traffic will never come back.
Your real problem is just that - your employer's services can be done without. They don't matter anymore. And what any real labor union officer will tell you in all candor (and did educate me about), is that no union can ever be more powerful than are the companies they bargain with. Collective bargaining is and always has been a five pin juggling act on a high wire.
Too bad that after a 120 years or so, we still have not come up with a better way - much better actually - of balancing the economic power of sellers vs buyers in the labor market. Such a thing would actually solve some of your gripes.
Not only has loose car railroading, common carrier obligations, and many other facets of "Real" railroading long gone aglee; so has the 8 hour day, civil respect, human dignity, honor, and allowance for family life; not to mention "Real" labor unions, real statesmen; and soon to go - any kind of railroading at all.
So All y'all are just arguing over the deck chairs on the Titanic. Go ahead and strike. The President could then go through the only legal rigamarole available to him, but to what end - y'all won't like the outcome anyway.
But what happens if he does nothing and lets the strike continue? Well a whole lot of NOTHING! The economy won't even burp. With less than 10% of the market share and still rapidly falling, railroads ARE just plain irrelevant anymore. What remaining few percent of traffic there still is will just switch to trucks. And though the highways are already jammed with trucks, they'll manage anyway. And having managed just as well if not better than the railroads, most of that traffic will never come back.
Your real problem is just that - your employer's services can be done without. They don't matter anymore. And what any real labor union officer will tell you in all candor (and did educate me about), is that no union can ever be more powerful than are the companies they bargain with. Collective bargaining is and always has been a five pin juggling act on a high wire.
Too bad that after a 120 years or so, we still have not come up with a better way - much better actually - of balancing the economic power of sellers vs buyers in the labor market. Such a thing would actually solve some of your gripes.
