Originally Posted by
notEnuf
Exactly, Rs and Ds were not on the same page. "introduced" so all it would have taken was a single legislator to move to a floor debate and they would have lined up to pontificate. The actual vote would have to be constructed and introduced as a bipartisan proposal so they could all get credit. Tic...tic...tic...tic...tic... Tock is when they are seen as heros at the moment the crisis is sufficient to garner accolades. This would have been an immediate strike and the companies would have lost.
There was a lot at play there…the unions were for the most part ok with the compensation part, it was the sick leave and absentee policy that they were objecting to. I believe that if the workers pressed to test, and voted to strike ( still can as the vote is ongoing ), that yeah congress would/will unilaterally move to force them back to work. Enough Dems and Republicans will see eye to eye and pass the legistration. The real question would be, would the railroad workers accept that and actually go back to work? Wildcat? One extra day out could really force some great contractual improvements. This would take some huge cahones by the union leadership, perhaps short term jail time, and huge unity and backing of the rank and file.
We are not that far from that situation, a couple steps and conceivably we could be there next year late spring. I also believe that congress would act against our interest and force us back to work. But we will get what we are willing to fight for, and the further we take it ( like our railroad brethren) the better our returns will be.