(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Train Crash in Ohio was Predicted During the Rail Strike... [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-11 Our future, if we continue to not fight for Unions and Workers? I am angry writing today. In December, many of our Democratic Senators voted to punish striking Rail Workers, by not allowing them sick days and some union concessions for safety and security. That would include both of my billionaire-sycophantic Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (Mark Warner is a sell-out plutocrat, but really Tim Kaine?). This was only compounded in frustration when, “I Ride the Rails” Biden decided that he ALSO was going to throw our overworked, underpaid, stressed out and sick rail workers under the tracks. Of all the people I would’ve suspected not being with our rail workers, he was the last one on my list. Why did this happen? Why? I’ll let President Biden explain: "Working together, we have spared this country a Christmas catastrophe in our grocery stores, in our workplaces, and in our communities," he said in a statement. Because they didn’t want the public relations hit of packages and Christmas presents not being able to be delivered on time, and the economic hit that would come from that. News agencies were already screaming about how dare rail workers upset their precious consumer goods. Even though we have a booming economy, with record profits, we can’t allow unions to use their collective bargaining rights because it might make things hard for the rest of us. That’s the fucking point, these people are backbone of society then, if everything collapses without them. Just like the nurses, and the teachers, and even the grocery store workers. If our society keeps ignoring the plight of the ‘heroes’ who keep our country a working civilization, then we have only one direction to head towards, eventual collapse. Now after the rail strike vote, and the end of the rail strike, most people went back to ignoring the plight of rail workers in this country. That was until this past week. Some of us still remembered, and did not forget the prognostications of those who were against the rail strike. So we weren’t surprised by this news: Five days after a train carrying vinyl chloride derailed and exploded near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, crews ignited a controlled burn of toxic chemicals to prevent a much more dangerous explosion. Though no one died in the accident, the catastrophe serves as a wake-up call to the potential for more deadly freight rail derailments, public health advocates warn. By one estimate, 25 million Americans live in an oil train blast zone, and had the derailment occurred just a few miles east, it would be burning in downtown Pittsburgh, with tens of thousands of residents in immediate danger. Ineffective oversight and a largely self-monitoring industry that has cut the nation’s rail workforce to the bone in recent years as it puts record profits over safety is responsible for the wreck, said Ron Kaminkow, an Amtrak locomotive engineer and former Norfolk Southern freight engineer. Hmm, when was this talked about? Oh, maybe during the rail strike discussions, where many of the Union demands were safety, security and health concessions, but the rail plutocrats with the help of the Biden Administration/Senate Democrats. Many rail workers rightly criticized this decision because asking sick workers to work graveyard shifts including inspection and maintenance positions leads to mistakes and accidents. Listen, I am not a Biden supporter, I will put it out there. He is the least worst president I have had in my lifetime. However, I do feel like he is trying on many things, to make our country better. Sometimes he is stopped by our Senate, and sometimes he makes bad decisions. A big problem is that many in the Democratic party are captured by the economic thought of the billionaire class/economic right-wingers, so that the pro-labor part of the party has been sidelined. I’m not sure how we fix this problem beyond, NOT VOTING FOR ANTI-LABOR democrats like Plutocrat Mark Warner. We need better Democrats who care about us. After COVID, it is obvious that while many of us complain about Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Synema as the biggest problems facing a functional Democratic party, there are many Democrats who are not out for the little guy in the end. This wing of the party believes in public-private partnerships, industry self-regulation, and lax oversight. They are crypto-dabblers, anti-trust ignorers, and against the STOCK act, to make congress more fair. They are the limousine liberals, who care about social issues but not really the labor issues that the people who work to keep the fabric of our society together need. Here is who I think they are, based on their voting history: Mark Warner Joe Manchin Kyrsten Sinema* Ted Carper Chris Coons Jacky Rosen Michael Bennett Jon Tester Jeanne Shaheen Dianne Feinstein Maria Cantwell Patty Murray Chuck Schumer Amy Klobachur Kristen Gillabrand Angus King* *independents who caucus with Democrats I will make one caveat. I do think Jon Tester and Joe Manchin are about the best we are going to get for their respective states, though. In the long run, we need a totally pro-labor Democratic party. After COVID, people are fed up with adulation for their hard efforts without the worker protections, pay and protections to back it up. Nurses, teachers, rail workers, and government employees left and right are quitting for easier jobs because our politicians have not robustly defended them in the face of unjustified attacks. We need to support our people! I would ask you, how are you supporting the labor movement in 2023? I’ve joined my education union, and am excited about collective bargaining agreements in the future. I know this post was rambling and a bit stream of consciousness, but I just feel like we need to use these next two years to organize effective change. 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