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Joe Biden Is About to Go Where No President Has Gone Before

5 points by pg_1234 3y ago

Bostonian 3y ago
The President should not take sides in labor disputes -- it's for the workers and employers to come to an agreement. A prolonged auto strike would tank the economy, and Biden may be hurting his re-election prospects by encouraging the unions to make unrealistic demands. Quoting a recent article https://reason.com/2023/09/20/biden-the-most-pro-union-president-reaps-what-he-sows/ https://reason.com/2023/09/20/biden-the-most-pro-union-presi... 'Worse for the Biden administration, even as it portrays itself as pro-union, it also paints itself green. That includes promoting electric vehicles and committing to end the federal government's purchase of cars with internal combustion engines by 2035. That poses big problems for the labor part of organized labor. "The talks are about more than pay," Jack Ewing noted for The New York Times. "Workers are trying to defend jobs as manufacturing shifts from internal combustion engines to batteries. Because they have fewer parts, electric cars can be made with fewer workers than gasoline vehicles." "The president is in a really tough position," Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, told Fortune. "What he needs to be the most pro-labor president ever and the greenest president ever is a magic wand."'
- rexpop 3y ago
  Unsustainable working conditions and compensation is already tanking the economy. I agree with you that work stoppages carry negative externalities, but we're not comparing it to a vacuum, we are comparing it to the, again, unsustainable status quo. People don't jump into a picket lightly.
  - corinroyal 3y ago
    I agree. To have Biden out there signals that his NLRB might actually have teeth this time. So many of have tried to organize a union election only to stall when the anti-worker NLRB gets involved. It's great to have an administration that, for once, doesn't undermine the board's mission

5 points by pg_1234 3y ago

The President should not take sides in labor disputes -- it's for the workers and employers to come to an agreement. A prolonged auto strike would tank the economy, and Biden may be hurting his re-election prospects by encouraging the unions to make unrealistic demands. Quoting a recent article https://reason.com/2023/09/20/biden-the-most-pro-union-president-reaps-what-he-sows/ https://reason.com/2023/09/20/biden-the-most-pro-union-presi... 'Worse for the Biden administration, even as it portrays itself as pro-union, it also paints itself green. That includes promoting electric vehicles and committing to end the federal government's purchase of cars with internal combustion engines by 2035. That poses big problems for the labor part of organized labor. "The talks are about more than pay," Jack Ewing noted for The New York Times. "Workers are trying to defend jobs as manufacturing shifts from internal combustion engines to batteries. Because they have fewer parts, electric cars can be made with fewer workers than gasoline vehicles." "The president is in a really tough position," Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, told Fortune. "What he needs to be the most pro-labor president ever and the greenest president ever is a magic wand."'

rexpop 3y ago
Unsustainable working conditions and compensation is already tanking the economy. I agree with you that work stoppages carry negative externalities, but we're not comparing it to a vacuum, we are comparing it to the, again, unsustainable status quo. People don't jump into a picket lightly.
- corinroyal 3y ago
  I agree. To have Biden out there signals that his NLRB might actually have teeth this time. So many of have tried to organize a union election only to stall when the anti-worker NLRB gets involved. It's great to have an administration that, for once, doesn't undermine the board's mission