Union Joe suddenly turns into Union-Buster-in-Chief — to save himself

Biden desires Congress to power rail unions to take a deal and avert a catastrophic strike.
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Huh! President Joe Biden truly cares extra about one thing than Large Labor: himself. He now desires Congress to power rail unions to take a deal and avert a catastrophic strike, despite the fact that some unions have already nixed it.

What a departure from the collective-bargaining-above-all strategy he’s lengthy taken. And it’s apparent why: With Individuals already dealing with Bidenflation and a probably painful recession, a rail strike would totally slam the nation’s economic system — and his legacy.

“I'm calling on Congress to move laws instantly to undertake the Tentative Settlement [reached in September by] railroad employees and operators,” Biden stated Monday, insisting no “path to resolve the dispute on the bargaining desk” exists.

Hmm. Simply this yr he was backing unionization of Amazon employees, warning, “Amazon, right here we come. Watch.”

Final yr, too, he pushed unionization drives and praised organized labor for successful employees higher phrases. His proposed Defending the Proper to Arrange Act and American Jobs Plan aimed to unionize virtually your complete US workforce (by nixing states’ right-to-work legal guidelines, for instance).

Biden’s Defending the Proper to Arrange Act and American Jobs Plan tried to develop unionization.

AP

Certainly, it’s laborious to search out Biden laws that doesn’t throw labor bones, irrespective of the expense to taxpayers, companies or customers.

But a rail strike now — proper earlier than the vacations — would ship his approval rankings by means of the ground. It may put 765,000 folks out of labor inside two weeks, price the economic system $2 billion a day, increase producer costs 4% and even threaten entry to very important chemical compounds wanted to make sure clear water and feed for livestock.

In September, Biden gloated about how the deal he’d secured then proved incorrect those that doubted he may head off a strike. Oops: Seems prefer it didn’t. Nevertheless it did rating factors for Democrats, delaying potential labor motion till after the midterms (although maybe inviting the unions to demand much more).

So now Union Joe has instantly change into Union-Buster-in-Chief, asking Congress to power a deal on employees, and to hell with their “decisions.” It’s the right transfer: Nobody desires a rail strike to nuke an already ailing US economic system.

Nevertheless it positive could be good if the prez lastly understood that on a regular basis companies, taxpayers and customers are additionally typically threatened by grasping unions — and that disputes between administration and employees ought to usually be left to themselves, with out Uncle Sam’s thumb on the size.