>

Pathetic it’s time to nationalize the railroad
"We can't afford to give workers more sick days plz daddy government don't let them strike"
2 Months Later.meme
Record Earnings
Fuck them >

They don't want to spend money on employees, not that they can't. For profit organizations have no reasons to throw more money to employees than they have to. >

Striking is a good reason why they should have to pay employees more. >

Strikes cost them more than just a few sick days and a couple extra bucks an hour.  When your entire income is shut down due to a strike,  that’s millions a day in lost money, potentially loosing contracts.   Companies may choose trucking over trains if you aren’t reliable. >

And if truckers strike? >

Back to wagon caravans, baby! >

What happens when they all get dysentery? >

We go by boat, on the newly formed shit river. >

But what if you can't ford it? >

Well, then you're in deep shit. >

My company just fired a bunch of people from major roles, gave their job duties to other people in major roles expecting them to now do the work of two people, and sent us all an email wanting us to congratulate them. Then they promised at the end more changes to be announced soon.
I haven’t gotten a raise since 2019 or a Christmas bonuses since 2018.
They also made great profits last year. But their investors are constantly HONGRY. 
I’ve updated my resume. >

My company had only 50% growth this year so they rewarded us by firing 10% of people and not doing merit raises. Woohoo.
I'm putting in the absolute minimum to not get fired and trying to pick up a second job in the same role where I will do the same. So instead of working diligently I'm going to be playing 3 card Monty with s few companies because that's the only way to get ahead. >


My company had only 50% growth this year so they rewarded us by firing 10% of people and not doing merit raises. Woohoo.

It's not always that extreme, but if I had a dollar for every time this happened...


Quarterly Town Hall:  "And we did really good growth!  And we're making lots of money!  Yay money!"


Literally 5 minutes later:  "...but unfortunately we didn't hit the growth target so there will be headcount reductions sowwy lololol"


...I'd have like a few dozen dollars or something >

quarterly town hall vs earnings call is really interesting to hear the two faced CEOs >

Earnings calls will give you the real deal. They can spew bullshit to employees, but can’t legally lie to investors. >

Correction...can't legally lie to investors >

Good point. Added that to my post. >

This is what happens when Wall Street is dominated by hedge funds, private equity firms, and massively wealthy individuals.  It was always a bit of a rigged game, but never like it is now. >

Rent and Housing are at top levels all over the map. Bailing out the sausage mortgage holders in 2008 did nothing for people who actually want a house to live in. It saved the banks and left the people with inflated rent/house prices. >

and then it happened again in 2020 >

This is after they can’t get a week off? >

Weeks off don’t make profits. Obviously. Also I agree with the workers.Companies care more about profits than working conditions >

I don't even think that is true. People overworked make mistakes and are miserable in their job. The customers of the trains are paying for it, let more of the money and benefits go to the people actually doing the labor. >

Yeah but those arent an immediate cost. That could happen next quarter and I get my quarterly bonuses now. >

"Why do railworkers keep saying they're going to strike?"

People who haven't seen this headline 2023. >

Stock buybacks should be more heavily regulated. >

I completely agree, and I actually think that maybe they shouldn't be allowed at all. Not a finance expert or anything, but something doesn't feel secure about companies being able to inflate their stock value by purchasing their own. At the very least, if they are propped up by subsidies, they definitely shouldn't be allowed to do it >

They were illegal until 1982. Give you one guess which Presidential administration that change happened during... >

But don't worry, our buddy Bill came in during the 90's and demolished glass steagall act and made everything all better... 
Both sides aren't equally bad but both sides absolutely contribute to the degradation of our country due to the blatant use of money in politics.
Edit: when I say sides, I mean D vs R, not conservative versus progressive. Progressives are historically better for the populace as a whole. >

When the bastion of liberal left wing politics is a governor from Arkansas, you are only going to get so far...
Edit: TBF, Seeing him play sax on TV was way too much for my young little mind. I'm sure I wasn't the only one. >

they need to spend more improving the transit lines. I want a passenger train to every major city in the US and I want it 50 fucking years ago. >

An unholy alliance of everyone from oil and gas companies on one end to Elon Musk on the other end have made sure rail transit stays dead and car remains king in the US. >

which is so duuuumb with how large the USA is. >

if only you could buy a yacht with foresight >

I'd like to see you try to take a yacht from Orlando to Denver. >

LeVar Burton would know how >

Holy shit, time to strike for some sick days. >

Nationalize the rails. 
Fuck ‘em. >

Any utility should be publicly owned. >

I'll bet a shiny wooden nickel that the higher ups are getting more in bonuses than what they would be giving in benefits for the workers. >

This!
Companies be like we can’t afford $15/hr minimum wage but dish out million dollar bonuses to execs. >

This is the issue. Robert Reich's YouTube channel has lots of info on this. Interesting. >

I'm just not shocked anymore. >

Tons of growth, but it feels like the railways are clogged AF and contributing to our supply chain issues. 
For example: my new vehicle, among a ton of my dealership's stock, has been sitting in a junction yard for over a month with no concrete delivery date. Makes you wonder what other goods and materials are just sitting there, rotting away. >

There's no actual competition for railroads anymore. Basically four companies each own 1/4 of the country.  The new railroad business model is about ridiculous long trains that don't run on schedule and are constantly late because they're so long only one train at a time can use the tracks for a hundred miles because they can't pass each other.  
What are you gonna flip about it? If you need to haul huge quantities of bulk stuff they're a de facto monopoly so they can make whatever terns they want. There's not enough Trucks to carry what trains do. >

So… it’s 4 railroads just like monopoly >

The entire reason Wallstreet is tolerated is because it allows companies access to extra liquid wealth for the purpose of investing in expansion, modernization, and other developments that increase the end of day productivity of the company's assets.
And yet here we see fortunes vanish into the ether so some jackasses can have larger slices of an overall diminished pie. Why the hell should society put up with people playing games like this? If the sum of your efforts, your times of good fortune when good fortune is hard for most come by, are consistently directed to making yourself a better parasite then I see no reason you shouldn't be treated like a parasite. >

There should be some sort of Bullshit Index that shows how much of any company's share price is attributable to buybacks. >

In 2022, Bed Bath and Beyond filed a higher amount on stock buybacks than they claimed they lost for the year. 
Let me reiterate that.  The company told investors they lost $559 million while also doing $589 million of stock buybacks.
Over the last ten years they’ve done $7.9B in stock buybacks while their business goes bankrupt. >

Reminder to self: don't shop at BBB >

Yup, they did the same with PPP loans and the Trump tax cut, all major companies did. Let the stock market die and make these absolute wage slavers lose everything. >

Now can we stop calling Biden a Socialist? >

Biden is far from a socialist. I never understand this false attack on him. >

Socialist is sort of like woke. It has a technical, dictionary definition. But colloquial use of it has come to mean anything the GOP doesn't like. >

DeSantis's own lawyers defined woke in court as, "The belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them." >

I mean, that's actually pretty close to the actual meaning. Sadly he is basically saying that this is wrong, dangerous, etc because it will lead to people questioning the status quo. >

More and more companies are showing the people they don’t appreciate us, we need to communicate, organize and demand/strike for liveable wages, benefits. 
Otherwise it’ll just be a matter of time until a generation is born that has had enough and will take these things by force. >

I'm so fucking sick of corporate greed stories. I certainly don't want some society where everyone gets the same amount, but there has to be a better way. It all comes down to simply not giving a shit about others. You know why I could never run a successful business?  Because I don't think I'd make very much at it due to the fact that every single one of my employees would be treated with respect and treated like an equal. >

And is a single person actually surprised? >

This is just rubbing salt on the wound for the railroad workers. >

Welcome to the Gilded Age 2.0. >

We've been there since 2008 if not sooner. >

The railroad robber barons still exist >

I know things will get really really difficult if it happens but God I want all these companies to crash hard and burn after all the pain they caused. >

Maybe some of these record earnings could go to maintenance, I've been seeing less ns motors in the yard lately. Also the ups and bnsfs aren't running any better. My last up sounded like it was about to explode the whole trip. >

That's exactly how they increase profits. Less maintenance, less worker benefits and less customer satisfaction, >

Freight railroads have some incredibly high profit margins and regularly get overlooked when they violate passenger rail's right-of-way. They neglect the infrastructure they rely on. They really need to get put in their place. >

When it’s your legal requirement to take care of shareholders over employees this is the crap we get. >

With the number of subsidies and bailouts we have given them we should have much better services and workers should have much better benefits. I so wish we could nationalize the railroads and airlines in the United States. >

Nationalize It!
Really I mean this for the actual tracks to be turned over/bought up by the government. These companies have show time and again they will sell the back bone of America infrastructure for short term profits. So treat the railroads like the road roads, the government owns the road and as long as you are set up with the DoT and Licensed you can operate on them.
Then not only can Amtrak and other passenger service get it's priority required by law and actual improvements, but rail freight will have actual internal competition from other companies allowed to actually have access to the rails. With the increased capacity we can start taking trucks off the road (which are the main causes of traffic and road wear), expand both passenger and freight services, and convert the national network over to electric, all of which will be a huge help to the environment.
That said the government could also bring back Conrail, while Amtrak was created as a company that would earn money but never did, Conrail was created as a company to be propped up by the government and instead made money. This new Conrail could help provide low cost freight services to abandoned areas or as mostly just the main contractor for MOW operations on the new national network. >

The corporate greed in this country is absolutely sickening! So disheartening for a life long hard worker. I’ve watched it get worse and worse over my 60+ years. 😢 >

“We can’t afford to give employees 2 sick days, then we can only buy 1 vacation island each this year” >

The corporation is a made man construct, and could be redefined if we wanted to. Maybe we should ? >

My brother works for UP out of Chicago. They have been very aggressive with cost containment, and one of the solutions they came up with, was moving all maintenance activity out of the heated sheds and straight into the train yard. So now they’re working at two in the morning on locomotives in the Chicago winter weather. Yeah, they have money for heat. They’re just like duck mcscroodge not gonna give you any. >

Just give them their fucking sick days already. >

Of course they did! Never underestimate the desire of the wealthy to hoard profits and shit on their workers. It's what the rich do, if you've been paying attention at all. >

This what 90% of our politicians support and they will continue to support this until we learn lessons from out nation's union history and our ally countries like France. >

Wasn’t it railroad workers who wanted some sick days or something…. >

Looks like Biden's union busting helped to increase their earnings. >

Spongebob meme.jpg but a strike would have devastated the economy and caused people to starve.
Well that sounds like they're really important people who we should make sure are treated fairly and given adequate time to stay fit enough to do their job.  
Also maybe we shouldn't allow a soulless bunch of profiteering assholes to be in charge of something so vital to the health of our nation that even a temporary cessation of services could result in total economic collapse.  
But no, no.  The answer is obviously to give these insatiable corporate goons everything they want. >

I 100% supported the railroad worker's right to strike. I literally predicted that the railroads would make insane profits and do stock buybacks. 
Socialism for corporations and the wealthy, starvation for the poor. >

How to be successful in the U.S. 101:
-Start a business.
-Cut costs whenever possible, pay employees bare livable minimum. Utilize shrinkflation if possible and if need be.
-Maintain consumer good will, even if you have to lie every now and then.
-If something turns up fowl from within, avoid responsibility and shift blame. There's no fault in lying. Media, Liberals, Democrats, Minorities, LBGTQ+ are great umbrella scapegoats. Always steer incoming vitriol towards anything that will not aid your bottom line.
-Avoid debt, if you can. Monetize your products to the fullest extent. Raise prices to comfortable amounts to not get government eye and blame inflation. 
-Be wary of competition. 
-Run the roulette and hope for success.
-If successful, go for Stonks.
-Appease shareholders priority #1. Shareholders > Government >>> Consumers >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Everything else, employees included 
-Start shadow companies. Fund certain politicians through said shadow companies.
-If lots of profit, repurchase shares with said profit.
-Talk shit on social media. >

You forgot raise prices and blame the price hike on inflation while in fact being the direct cause of said inflation 
And get government to step in when your employees demand better working conditions and wages. Guess you kind of covered that one >


You forgot raise prices and blame the price hike on inflation while in fact being the direct cause of said inflation.

Good one. Added. >

So, this right here is the main reason you can only get ahead by company hopping.
Recruitment budgets are by far higher than retainment budgets. This is by design for a number of reasons, but its cheaper to retain people that can't afford change/disruption than it is to replace the relatively small percentage of 'high performing' job hoppers.
And by high performing, I mean that they know how to write a resume and get the most for themselves... unfortunately, not everybody has the flexibility to do that.
I think that has a MAJOR affect on keeping wages artificially low.
Executives and business consultants KNOW this, and don't say it outright, but camaflouge it in corporate language.. 
If there was a cultural shift, and more people started job hopping, then it would start to get more expensive to hire than retain. Eventually retainment budgets (raises and promotions) would start to come up. You can see this in SOME  industries and regions. Look at fast food and retail. There is a lot of wage competition, because of the relatively low cost of moving jobs in that industries. 'Career' type industries (engineers, doctors, nurses, teachers) are particularly effected by wage stagnation. Only the top 5% of companies are really trying to retain high performing employees by keeping merit and raise structures competitive. >


spends more on share repurchases than on its employees

You can say this about any corporation. >

The phrase/communication that "the 99% vs 1%" has gone out of style, you don't see it mentioned like it was in 2015 and earlier.
The pattern world wide with the pandemic is pretty clear. Systems of all kind are being leveraged against the average person in favor of economic-powered rulers. >

Still plenty of time for that strike... >

This is one big glaring F - up the current administration did. They should have been allowed to strike. >

I completely agree with this. At the time this broke there were so many redditors falling on the sword to defend the administration over this- like it was completely inconceivable they could be allowed to strike, at the same time expecting nothing from the rail companies.    
People get too wrapped up in party politics- clouds their judgment. It’s ok to support your party and call them out on their bullshit at the same time. I wish more people tried it, it feels great. >

Make stock buybacks illegal again. >

Or tax them at 50+% >

Companies don’t care about workers anymore in the US, they only care about profits and satisfying investors. My company is UK based, I live in Texas, and they treat us well. >

My uncle works for a company based out of Sweden and they keep illegally pressuring him into retiring.
What’s you point? >

That my company treats their employees well. >

No, your point was that European companies are better and they are not. They are forced to be better by their governments but they don’t do it because they want to. I work a company that gives us better healthcare than my boss’s wife can get through her major defense contractor employer and we’re an American based company.
You can find places to work that will treat you right in America that are based here like you can find shitty European companies doing business here.
Edit: forgot a sentence but I think it’s implied, not all European companies carry over their attitudes towards employee treatment to their overseas operations >

Ugh…brexit happened…UK is not part of European Union, dipshit! >

Lol why do people still think this means that the UK got up and fucked off out of Europe completely.
Norway and Switzerland are also not in the EU, would you say they’re not European? >

Good thing “the most pro union president” sided with management… >

Normal business practice for 2000's capitalism. It's the new corporate model Trump supported with a nearly $2 trillion tax cut that resulted in the highest corporate profits while it helped lead to another global recession.
Yay, capitalism! It's bound to destroy everything for that last dollar. >

They have railworkers by the balls because unlike other employee sectors, they have no legal protections to collectively strike to bargain for better working conditions.  This is why they have no PTO days.
Rail workers were exempt from the 1935 National Labor Relations Act >

We’re practically asking for physical retaliation by doing this too.  It’s extremely stupid. >

Railway workers have a history of violently striking and I think they should go back to it. >

Corporations are, by nature, entirely sociopathic. The only thing they have resembling a conscience is government regulation. Laissez faire capitalism is essentially a return to monarchy and feudalism. >

Well yeah, why would the master share profits with the slaves? >

Nationalize the god damn railway companies and airline companies. Enough. >

It just feels like these industries are just taking all the money they save by paying employees less, making flimsier products, offering worse and process improvement and just playing big boy casino with it so that the dudes at the top can keep score of whose got a bigger number. >

Why is it that every “struggling” company that raises prices is suddenly making record profits? Gas prices up? Oil companies hit record profits. Egg prices going crazy? Record profits for producers. >

The airlines did it, why can’t we???? >

Ah, I see I'm not that the only one that used to play railway tycoon. >

And this is why the state should not get involved with labour disputes. >

I'd argue the opposite almost.  There shouldn't be labor disputes because infrastructure as critical as this should be nationalized. >

This is like literally every large company in the world why is this even news. "THEY" don't care about "us" at all. >

Tell me something new for once >

Tell me how they're different than any other large corporation. Welcome to capitalism at it's finest. >

TrIcKlE dOwN EcOnoMics >

We need to nationalize the railroads. If the railroad network is so vital to the country, then why is it all owned by private entities? Imagine if all the highways were owned by private corporations. We'd be in a sea of toll booths. >

This reminds me of biological behavior. The organism is the railroad and the board is like a virus or, to go with the current popular zombie analogy, a fungus, which has hijacked the organism and turned it into a vehicle for the board’s propagation and interest. Original function is no longer the primary concern. >

Well they obviously had enough money to buy both houses and the president and those whores ain't cheap. >

Need to redefine stakeholders in modern society >

We were born to make a few of us super rich >

Shareholders are more important than the workers providing the actual value of the company. >

You could replace "major railroad" with ant company and the title would be the same. >

So in corporate speak, "we can't afford it" officially means "we want to make more profits than we ever have previously"
Want a raise? Useful benefits? To be treated with basic respect? "We can't afford it"
Meanwhile our transportation, grocery, and entertainment companies continue to roll in obscene profits. This should be criminal if it isn't already, and if it is we need to actually enforce it. >

Tax them 30% on stock buy backs.
Give them a tax break for paying employees more.
Its not hard people. >

Stock holders above all. Make the employees stock holders. >

Didn't airlines do this a while back? >

It’s always bullshit. The power of the working class has yet to be realized. >

Is anyone noticing a trend here? Big businesses operate counter to what is best for America and the American worker. >

If you can’t strike, quit! Yeah it sucks, yeah it’s scary. But you can do other things….. and if you organize a massive resignation it’d hit harder than a strike ever could. And railroads would be forced to rush new hires and they would have to have a lot of experienced new hires and they’d need to offer competitive compensation and every new hire would have the ability to negotiate their terms. Well actually that last part probably isn’t true because unions don’t allow individual negotiation. >

Let me guess Union Pacific? >

Trickle down economics at work for the people... >

To give an idea of how crappy UP is, years ago they went after the model railroad industry hard over models of UP engines.  This is after 70 years of not caring at all.  They wanted a cut of not only every UP item but a percentage of total revenue of hobby companies including all the non UP stuff.  Threatened to sue.  It was heavy handed over the top greed.  Eventually it was negotiated to a settlement but lots of good will for train fans went out the window. >

Wendover Productions recently released an excellent video about why railroad corporations seeking short term profits have ruined passenger rail in the US. I’d highly recommend watching it >

Not advocating in the slightest, but I'm surprised that corporate sabotage and railroad "decline" of structural stability isn't higher than its current level reports.
Like, if the disgruntled workers ever unite to absolutely resolve the power dispute once and for all, then I could see the US brought to its knees over a day or two of effective resistance.
Crazy how mindlessly we all shuffle into the future where everything is worse and everyone just shrugs. 
Like today but more so. >

This is what we really should be thanking Biden for. 
He walked all over those workers fighting for better conditions. He showed what happens when the rubber met the road. 
Just a little kinder about it than Reagan. >

lol, sounds like the franchises in charge of UK railways post-privatisation, as well..
Unionise and strike, guys. >

Maybe internal "sabotage " >

But they already own the employees so why not repurchase stock they don’t own, right? >

So when does the railroad back pay come in, so people can start quiting there job. >

This is the worst timeline. >

I like when people destroy stretches of track. Seriously, fuck these guys and tear apart the tracks these carts roll on >

Time to strike. Enough is enough. >

Re-write the corporate charter.
This shit has been going on too long.