One certainly must make certain they have enough income to provide for their needs and those needs of the family, and to hold some back for the rainy days and bad times that are sure to come in everyone’s life, often at the worst possible moment, and typically people simply saw those days work lost due to sickness as just one of the many pitfalls of life.
Isn’t it the individual’s responsibility to plan for such things? Sure, if a company is gracious and so benevolent as to see their way clear to offer such a benefit, it would be a fine act, but in the end, it really isn’t something that’s required of them, and, in the case of the railway companies, their top CEOs probably believe they are already paying sufficiently large salary packages that any individual worker should easily be able to absorb a few days of missed work.
As in all stories, there are probably a litany of other underlying motivating factors in the reluctance of these companies to settle for this deal.
However, although I see selfishness as no real vice, since one must see to one’s own success, before one can help others, this latest bit of trouble for America smacks of a certain distasteful self-serving gross level of selfishness that endangers and threatens the entire nation on the heels of months of a broken supply chain and an incredibly rough economic period for all, especially the poorest of the poor, and getting a raise for the railway workers today is only going to exacerbate inflation across the board for all Americans, as top management moves to hike rail rates, making the cost of goods rise too.
With that said, it’s a dance between the general good of the people and the individual, that requires good common sense, common decency, empathy and heart to ensure everyone benefits and no one gets driven in the ground by undue burdens placed on them, inadvertently or purposefully.
Each railway worker has the absolute right to strike, even in the wake of this bill, but that doesn’t mean they should or that they really have to do so in order to make a point. From my perspective and looking at it from their position, they should be able to bite the bullet, if just this once, until the supply chain is once again fully stabilized and perhaps until saner minds have the economy tracking on towards an infinitely better position. But if they really think those seven days of paid sick leave are going to make them or break them, hey, go ahead and strike — yea that’s right — and don’t give nary a care of the consequences for all Americans that will accompany it.
However, this isn’t the first time America has faced tough days and railway strikes, and should this looming threat be realized as a fact of life in the days ahead, the companies full well do have the absolute right to replace those striking employees, if they can find comparable and qualified workers to replace them, possibly from graduating classes of colleges known to specialize in training future railway workers, like Penn State or Sacramento City College.
Someone needs to bite the bullet on this one, and it could be said to be a toss-up, since nearly every railway company listed profits of two to three billion dollars last year suggesting they can afford it and in light of how much their workers are paid.
The next question that comes to mind is don’t these companies have the right to keep their profit rather than take on an added responsibility for their workers? I guess in the end, it will be a matter of how CEOs perceive the workers’ “need” and whether or not they see it as a valid “grievance”; it will also ultimately come down to just how much they really care for their people.
Nothing in life is free, and someone always has to pay the cost on down the line. In this instance, regardless of who loses and wins in this controversy, it is most of America who will lose, especially if we allow ignoramuses like Biden to keep spending our tax dollars like their his own, spending Americans’ money ’til it all runs out.
Americans are the largest consumers of goods in the world, living in a greed driven world constantly under attack by television ads to buy more stuff and keep “keeping up with the Joneses”. And while there’s nothing wrong with wanting what everybody wants, in the way of a nice home, decent food on the table, quality clothing and the ability to afford a few of life’s luxuries, as one takes note of the massive abundance and hoarder-like qualities of so many, who simply accumulate everything just to say they have it — I guess it’s better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it — one must wonder at just what point is enough stuff enough stuff.
No one should be faulted for being successful, or seeking to become even more successful, however, in troubled times for many across the nation, we could all do a bit more to make sure our actions don’t bring on more troubles for everyone across the country.
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