Politics
‘Political pawns’: Livid railway workers warn Biden’s union agreement will ‘definitely’ impact next election
The nation’s third-largest rail union and rail workers are looking ahead and vowing not to forget who stood by them during their fight for paid sick leave, and some even warn that President Biden’s push for Congress to intervene will have negative consequences.
The outrage follows a vote by Congress on three measures relating to the rail worker demands, including one which the Senate passed in an 80-15 vote codifying an agreement negotiated by the White House and 12 of the nation’s rail unions.
Clark Ballew, the director of communications for the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division (BMWED), the third-largest rail union in America, told Fox News Digital that the union will not forget who stood alongside of them as they fought for paid sick leave days.
“You can damn well bet that railroaders took note of who stood with us and who failed to support the basic common decency of paid sick days,” Ballew said.
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President Biden signed into law on Friday the legislation to avoid a railroad workers strike, concluding that the measure avoided “what could have been a real disaster.”
(Chip Somodevilla, Mario Tama via Getty Images)
David, a rail worker represented by a local chapter of SMART-TD who did not want to provide his full name out of fear of retaliation, suggested that Biden could suffer consequences in the next election.
“This will definitely have an effect on the next elections, I think, because Biden’s slowly showing the true colors,” David said. “I’ve always known he is only looking for votes, but several unions and members are just now realizing that. If he really cared, wanted to show that he cared about the work that we’re doing and some of the sacrifices we have had to make, he should have stayed out of this or fought harder. I didn’t want a strike, I know how bad it would be for the economy, but right is right and we need the sick leave days. The unions and rail companies have got to figure out how to work together on this sorta thing.”
“This isn’t for Congress to decide,” he said. “Whether you’re for unions or not, we railroad workers should not have to continue the harsh conditions we are subjected to. Paid sick leave is a simple ask. For Congress not to be able to reach an agreement for some of the hardest-working people I know is just sad. I appreciate those that stand up for us, though, and even voted in support of sick days to be included.”
Asked whether he believes President Biden’s call for Congress to involve itself in negotiations between railroad companies and the unions was a betrayal of the pro-union message that he has long touted, Ballew, who is also a member of BMWED Local Lodge 153 in Richmond, said, “The president’s decision to throw our bargaining round to Congress was not unexpected. We’ve been down this road before. It’s how the Railway Labor Act proceeds.”
Though some of workers’ demands were met, they had held out hope on the sick leave could be added. “We felt like paid sick time off was an important omission and not an especially rapacious ask,” Ballew said.
“Because of the 60 vote threshold in the Senate, we also know who likely cast a token vote in our favor yesterday because they knew they were insolated from its passage. There was buffer room there for certain politicians who have never supported our cause before to get a ‘freebie’ there, but railroaders are not dumb. We see that kind of deception everyday from our bosses on the railroad; we don’t fall for that,” Ballew told Fox News.
Shipping containers at a Union Pacific rail terminal in City of Industry, California, US, on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022.
(Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Ballew said congressional intervention “could have easily been prevented if these miserly Class 1 railroads would have come to the table genuinely ready to negotiate paid sick leave rather than wait for Congress to bail them out.”
“All of this was preventable and only came to pass because the railroads can’t part from their antiquated labor-management practices and advance into modern societal times to afford a person the occasional day to address sickness when it strikes them or their family. A paid sick day is not a novel concept,” he added.
President Biden signed into law on Friday the legislation to avoid a railroad workers strike, concluding that the measure averted “what could have been a real disaster.”
The newly enacted law codifies a July deal negotiated by rail unions and the Biden administration that would raise workers pay by 24% over a five-year period from 2020 through 2024, including an immediate payout on average of $11,000 upon ratification.
The agreement passed by Congress was approved by eight of 12 transportation unions involved in negotiations. The four dissenting unions, representing about 100,000 rail workers, said the deal was unfair because it included insufficient paid-sick leave time. They had asked for seven paid sick days, but Congress did not include their demand in the bill, despite an effort from progressive lawmakers and even some conservatives like Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., to amend the legislation.
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Freight rail cars sit in a rail yard on November 22, 2022 in Wilmington, California.
(Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Adam McKellips, a member of the SMART Transportation Division (SMART-TD) local 1289 chapter in Oklahoma, told Fox News Digital that he feels like “we and our families are nothing but political pawns.”
“I work for a Class 1 railroad that implemented one of the most egregious attendance policies (Hi-Viz) that requires us to be available to work 92% of the time per month,” he said. “If we take off one day for a sickness, we are required to [work] 14 days straight to gain points back. That is why we are fighting tooth and nail for sick days.”
McKellips said Democrats could have “easily” included sick leave into the measure but would “rather make a political stunt off the backs of the hardworking ‘essential’ rail workers” instead.
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“The Republican Party was never going to accept H. R. 119 in the Senate and that also infuriates our union membership,” McKellips added. “Class 1 railroads have made record profits on the backs of workers through a pandemic, then implement the most egregious attendance policy to keep the ‘essential’ workers on duty to keep the profits coming in.”
Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo contributed to this article.
Politics
Biden vetoes bill cancelling his $400 billion student loan handout, vows he’s ‘not going to back down’
President Biden on Wednesday vetoed the bill that would have scrapped his $400 billion student loan handout and vowed he wasn’t “going to back down” when it came to forgiving the college debt of millions across the country.
“Folks, Republican in Congress led an effort to pass a bill blocking my administration’s plan to provide up to $10,000 in student debt relief and up to $20,000 for borrowers that received a Pell Grant. Nearly 90% of those relief dollars go to people making less than $75,000 a year,” Biden said in a video posted on Twitter.
“I’m not going to back down on my efforts to help tens of millions of working and middle class families. That’s why I’m going to veto this bill,” he said.
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Amid his railing against Republicans, Biden made no mention of the two Democratic senators, Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Jon Tester, D-Mont., who joined all Republicans in voting to advance the bill last week. Independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema also voted in favor with the final tally coming to 52-46.
Biden also made no mention of Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, and Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., who joined Republicans in voting for the bill in the House of Representatives. The final House vote tally was 218-203.
The president went on to say that some of the members who voted for the bill had “personally received loans to keep their small business afloat during the pandemic,” and supported “huge tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy.”
President Joe Biden speaks ahead of vetoing a bill scrapping his $400 billion student loan handout on June 7, 2023 in the Oval Office. (White House)
“But when it comes to hardworking Americans trying to get ahead, dealing with student debt relief, that’s where they drew the line. I think it’s wrong,” he said.
“Let me make something really clear, I’m never going to apologize for helping working and middle class Americans as they recover from this pandemic. Never,” he added before signing his veto of the bill.
Biden’s veto of the bill marks his fifth veto since taking office.
Under the program announced last year, Biden said he would cancel up to $10,000 in student loans for people making less than $125,000, and up to $20,000 for students who received Pell Grants. That program was expected to cost the government more than $400 billion in lost debt repayment, but the program was put on hold after a court blocked it.
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The U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. (Fox News Photo/Joshua Comins)
The resolution approved by the House and Senate was written under the Congressional Review Act, which lets Congress reject an executive branch policy as long as both the House and Senate pass a resolution disapproving of that policy.
Given the mostly partisan nature of the votes in the House and Senate, it’s unlikely Congress will be able to find the two-thirds majority needed in each chamber to override Biden’s veto.
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Fox News’ Peter Kasperowicz contributed to this report.
Politics
Michigan man pleads guilty to assisting Whitmer kidnapping scheme
A man accused of aiding a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor pleaded guilty Wednesday, the ninth conviction in state and federal courts since agents broke up an astonishing scheme by anti-government rebels in 2020.
Shawn Fix said he provided material support for an act of terrorism, namely the strategy to snatch Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at her vacation home in Antrim County. Prosecutors agreed to drop a weapon charge.
Fix trained with a militia, the Wolverine Watchmen, for “politically motivated violence,” prosecutors have said, and hosted a five-hour meeting at his Belleville home where there was much discussion about kidnapping Whitmer.
MICHIGAN MAN CHARGED WITH AIDING WHITMER KIDNAPPING PLOT TO CHANGE PLEA
Fix, 40, acknowledged helping plot leader Adam Fox pinpoint the location of Whitmer’s home, key information that was used for a 2020 ride to find the property in northern Michigan.
“Guilty,” Fix told the judge.
Shawn Fix has pleaded guilty to his role in the planned kidnapping of Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. (AP Photo/John Flesher)
He appeared in an Antrim County court, one of five people charged in that leg of the investigation. A co-defendant pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in March, leaving three other men to face trial in August.
Fix, who faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, agreed to testify if called by prosecutors.
The main kidnapping conspiracy case was handled in federal court, where four men, including ringleaders Fox and Barry Croft Jr., were convicted. Two others were acquitted.
WISCONSIN MAN CHARGED IN WHITMER KIDNAPPING PLOT TO CHANGE PLEA
Separately, three men were convicted at trial in Jackson County, the site of militia training, and are serving long prison terms.
Whitmer, a Democrat, was targeted as part of a broad effort by anti-government extremists to trigger a civil war around the time of the 2020 presidential election, investigators said. Her COVID-19 policies, which shut down schools and restricted the economy, were deeply scorned by foes.
But informants and undercover FBI agents were inside the group for months, leading to arrests in October 2020. Whitmer was not physically harmed.
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After the plot was thwarted, Whitmer blamed then-President Donald Trump, saying he had given “comfort to those who spread fear and hatred and division.” Last August, after 19 months out of office, Trump called the kidnapping plan a “fake deal.”
Politics
Utah Rep. Chris Stewart to step down from Congress in September
U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, on Wednesday officially submitted his letter of resignation from Congress.
In a letter to Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox, Stewart said he would be stepping down as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives effective Sept. 15.
FILE: Utah Rep. Chris Stewart talks to supporters during an Utah Republican election night party on June 28, 2022, in South Jordan, Utah. (Photo/George Frey, File)
“It has been one of the great honors of my life to serve the good people of Utah in Congress,” Stewart said.
Stewart, a six-term lawmaker, announced his plans to leave Congress last month due to his wife’s illness.
His resignation would leave open a Republican seat on the House Appropriations and Intelligence committees — and reduce an already narrow GOP majority to just four seats.
Utah law states that the governor must call for a special election in the event of a House vacancy. Once Stewart makes his resignation official, Republican Gov. Spencer Cox will have seven days to set the time for a primary and special election.
The law requires those dates to be the same as municipal primary and general elections scheduled for this year, unless the state legislature appropriates funds to hold a separate election.
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Though Stewart’s departure will mean one less Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, it is not expected to affect House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ability to steer a tight Republican majority.
The district is reliably Republican and Stewart defeated a Democratic challenger by more than 30 percentage points in 2022.
Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.
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