On this edition of Parallax Views, Maximillian Alvarez, Editor-in-Chief of the Real News Network, joins the show alongside Marilee Taylor and Jeff Kurtz of Railroad Workers United to discuss the recent struggle between railroad workers and rail carriers over paid sick leave. President Joe Biden and Congress recently struck down a rail workers strike over the issue. In this conversation we’ll hear from Marilee and Jeff about the plight of the workers and their anger over what has transpired over the last few days with President Biden and Congress. Maximillian will give context to how this situation arose as a journalist that has been covering this developing issue since January 2022.
Among the topics covered:
– Comparing the events happening under Biden to President Ronald Reagan’s shutting down of the air traffic controllers strike in 1981
– A potential mass exodus of railroad workers from their profession
– Pay isn’t the only issue that exists for workers; sick leave and quality-of-life are issues too
– The ruling class and the alienation and isolation of rail workers
– Will this lead to a depoliticization of rail workers that could Democrats?
– Ted Cruz, Joshua Hawley, and Marco Rubio voting with Bernie Sanders on sick leave
– The corporate media’s coverage of the railroad workers vs. the rail carriers in recent days
– Striking and democratic rights
– The oligopoly
– Biden’s promise to be the most “pro-union President”
– Does their need to be a workers party? The bankruptcy of the two party system and the need for a strong labor movement in the U.S.
– Peter Buttigieg and the Department of Transporation
– Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer
– Is there a possibility of wildcat strikes?
– Marilee argues that this is a backstabbing betrayal against working people and that they’re not going to take this lying down; Marilee decries what she calls the “total treachery of the Democratic Party”
– The personalities, inner lives, hopes, and dreams of rail workers and how we are often not given that fully human portrayal of them in media
– What do rail workers do next?
– The rail bosses, supply chains, and damage to the economy
– And much, much more
